The first PIC project I had was to program the 16F84 PIC for my homebrew ILink interface
board. At this point I had no experience with PICs and I have never programmed one in my
life. So, the first thing I needed to acquire was a PIC programmer. Instead of spending
money on a commercial programmer, I decided to build my own. Many people have asked for help
with this, so I decided to retrace my steps to help as many as I can. I did a lot of internet
searching and a lot of hair pulling before I was successful.
Once I successfully programmed my very first PIC, I caught PIC fever. I have a few friends
who have been using PICs for many years, but I felt I never had time, nor an interest to further
pursue the PIC. Well, now the interest has begun and it has caught on like wild fire. In the
past month (September, 2001) I spent more money on PIC related items than the average person
spends on 3 months of groceries. Listed below are some of the steps I have taken.
(1) I purchase the book "Easy PIC'n" by David Benson at www.sq-1.com.
(2) I ordered PICS and 4.00 MHz ceramic resonators from DigiKey at www.digikey.com.