I use windows notepad to write picbasic code. My programs are simple, typically
fit on two pages. I do all the heavy lifting with Hotpaw Basic on a Palm.
The pic just interfaces hardware and sends raw data via RS232 or SIR or bluetooth/SPP
to the Palm. It's usually interrupt driven, so I've found simulators pretty much useless.

I used quickbasic to write the parser/control code for PBPW until I ran into a situation
where I absolutely had to use a long filename. After a LONG search, I finally switched
to FREEBasic and the companion fbide. It's very short on debugging help, but it
has a lot of nice string functions. The dialect is annoyingly different from QB,
but documentation is good. Been working out well for writing small "scripts".

I don't recall exactly why I didn't use VisualBasic6, but think it had to do with wanting
a single .exe file I could transport to another machine without a lot of drama.

I'd like to expand my user interfaces from Palm to WinCE. Best free basic-like compiler
I've found is Aristar Dialect. Works, but I'd like more control over the serial
port hardware. Any ideas in that area?

Thanks, mike