>> It's okay for entry-level hobbyists in my opinion. Comparing to
>> cheapest on the market it's only a couple of Big Macs and Cola extra
>> price.
>
> Cheapest on the market is a solderless breadboard, a bare PIC with
> build-in resonator, an 7805, a wall-wart and a serial-port-wiggler
> programmer. It takes time and probably a lot of sweat and frustration to
> get that working, but it is way cheaper than Olin's (or most other)
> boards. But that's what a cash-starved 14-y will consider the alternative.

Hey, for a PIC, you don't even need the 7805 and wall-wart - unregulated
batteries will do!  Of course, mains is always cheaper in the long run... 
Back when I was a cash-starved 14-yo, I built myself a simple (linear! -
this was 30 years ago) regulated power supply - which saw a lot of use in
the next few years.

Back to topic - now that I'm a hobbyist with much more money to spend, I
would certainly consider a quality development board.  Assuming there are
more people out there like me, there is a market for this.


David Meiklejohn
www.gooligum.com.au

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