Is this good for me? Brand new to PIC's

[strokedmaro]

I really have no idea how they work or where to even start. I see a ton of information but the majority of it is for people who have a clue to start off with. I found this on ebay: item number 130197760468 and was wondering if it was a waste of money. I would be interested in what the majority of you are using so if I have issues manybe you guys could lend me a hand.

My ultimate goal is to figure out how I can use a PIC to eliminate multiple logic gates. Its amazing how many gates it takes to get a relatively simple project to work. For my current project I need a way to take 3 separate 12vdc inputs and output a combination of grounds.

example:

input 1 = ground, ground
input 2 = ground
input 3 = ground

If you think that ebay item is a good place to start please let me know and thank you.

 

[3v0]

Next time post a link so we do not have to google....
You are talking about **broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

I would not buy a programmer unless the schematics are provided. The seller does tell you much about this programmer. It seems very odd that it does not have an ICSP header.

I would suggest you start with a PICkit2 from microchip or a Junebug kit. The is a PICkit2 clone + an 18F1320 tutor on a single board. Both of these are ICSP programmers. Both of these have ICSP headers for programming the PIC in circuit. Most of the time you will not want to remove the PIC and place it in a socket for programming. Very old school and tiresome.

I teach uC development and programming to a few kids and we use the Junebug. Lots of help regarding it on this forum. A few people have built Junebugs from the provided schematics.

See the sticky post at the start of the microprocessors forum for info on getting started.