Hi Team,

I’ve started the countdown to retirement and the first move will be to finally upgrade to the latest PBP.
So far, I’ve been successfully using older PBP revisions with older free MicroCode Studio. Since my applications were too simple and I got too used to my old setup, I did not feel the need to upgrade.
It only seems natural to do that now when I will have more time to learn and my old XP based desktop / laptop might fail any time.
I’m working on getting the funds together and here are a few questions that will help me go through the decision-making process:

1. Is there clear information available for a beginner to install and get this system running?
2. How many seats are allowed to be used with the latest PBP (3.1 if I’m not mistaken) and MCSPX (5.0)? If only one can it be easily moved from one system to another in case that it is needed?
3. Are these two software pieces enough to get me going (write code and generate .HEX files) or I need some other applications? If I need other applications what will they be, what revisions are recommended and what will be the advantage?
4. Are these software pieces fully compatible now with Windows 10? I will also purchase and dedicate a computer to this application and Windows 10 seem to be the best choice.
5. I owe a couple of U2 Programmers, one Field Programmer, a couple of PICKIT 3 devices, one LabX1 and one LABX2 boards. Do I need to invest in something else or these will suffice? I understand that pending the processor I will be using I might need some specific development board but right now I just want to get things going and move to the 18F family and the newer 10Fs that I understand are now supported. As I said before I learn slowly but I forget really fast so, small steps will be best for me.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Nick