A question or two about pic programers and compilers.

[Jeggyman]

Hi all. I recently purchased the book "PIC Robotics, A beginer's guide to Robotics Projects using the PICMicro. By John Irvine". I like the book and I want to experiment with various projects presented in it but in order to do so I need to purchase both a compiler and a programer. The problem is that the recommended programer and compiling software are a little cost prohibitive to me. $60 for the EPIC Programmer from MicroEngineering labs inc. and $100 for the PicBasic compiler, also from MicroEngineering labs inc. I was wondering if anyone could suggest cheaper substitutes that would suit the following needs.

For the programmer:
*Pre-assembled
*Able to program at least the PIC16F84 (although the ability to program other chips as well would be nice)
*Easy to use, I've never used any of this equipment before and I would rather get a cheap programmer for the time being that is more "idiot proof" even if it doesn't have as many features as other programmers on the market.

For the compiler:
*Able to compile PicBasic.
*Once again, easy to use.

I'm looking to spend as little as possible for these products while still recieving a product that will work as it's supposed to. Any suggestions would be very greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Exo]

www.winpicprog.co.uk offers the scematic for the P16Pro40 and free software that works with it. This is the cheapest solution, but you have to build it yourself. Can't really see a problem with that, it's very straightforward and if you're going to program pic's then I assume you're going to be building circuits anyway.

If you really want to buy one, i'm sure Nigel knows some cheap kits that work with his software...

As, for the compiler, The only one i know off that can compile picbasic, is picbasic itself, but i remember reading something here on the forums about someone making a picbasic compiler himself wich was going to be for free...

The only alternative is learning assembler (wich, in my opinion you should do anyway, you can never write complicated software in basic if you don't understand what's going on in the background).