PIC24FJ64GA002 demo board - ideas

Hi all,
I have seen this micro and I think it is a very cool one - exists in DIP package, powerful and not expensive ($3.18 in MicrochipDirect for 1 piece quantity)
But I don't want to buy the demo board for $80 so I am thinking about designing my own. I am open to suggestions what to put on the board and I'll post the schematics here once I create something

What I want to put there is (except for the MCU itself)

1. ICSP/debug connector - for PICKit 2 etc ...

2. 3.3V LDO (so it can be powered from 5V supply)

3. All ports I/O on headers

4. characted LCD connection (e.g. standard 2x16 LCD)

5. RS-232

other ideas ?

I've been thinking about one as a kit, nice PIC. The dsPIC30F4013 looks promising too.

My 24F series dev board. Sames as my every think else dev board

If you are using Veroboard, it is very simple to wire some pins for plugging in the PICkit2.

Pins 1, 4 and 5 of both the PICkit2 and the PIC24FJ64GA002 are MCLR, PGD and PGC. It makes wiring them up very simple.

Pin 6 on the PICkit2 isn't used and 2 and 3 are Power and Ground.

You can run small circuits from the PICkit2.

I always like the mikroelektronika dev boards, should look at their stuff at www.mikroe.com and steal some of the ideas for your dev board, some of the features their boards have:
RS232, LED on each i/o pin, 4xseven segment LED, graphic LCD, 2x16 LCD, PS2 keyboard connector, A/D inputs, pullups/downs for each port (configurable), temp sensor and some other stuff, think their newest boards come with a touch graphic LCD

I will add some leds, sure and I was also thinking about the PS/2 keyboard connector. No 7-segments I think as there is going to be the LCD display - I like the one from www.dipmicro.com, white on blue with backlight.

Sorry for a thread-jack, but donniedj what is your programming cable made of? Standard ribbon cable and some kind of connector? Looks very neat, I wouldn't mind making one like it.