Hi! I'm new to PIC programming too. I made my own JDM programmer, but I also bought a PICkit 1 Flash Starter Kit from Microchip. Like the other guy said, you'll have enough problems getting started without having to wonder if your homemade programmer is working or not.

Why did I choose the PICkit 1 (rather than PICkit 2)? I first bought Myke Predko's book "123 PIC Microcontroller Experiments for the Evil Genius", and all of his examples use the PICkit 1. So now I have everything that Myke uses in his book.

And by the way, you DO NOT have to have a programmer. You can simply run the proper 5 wires from your serial port to your solderless breadboard. To know which wires go where, it will depend upon which PIC chip you're using. Different PICs have different pin-outs for Vpp/MCLR, Vdd, Vss, OSC1/CLK, and RA0/Data. It's surprisingly simple what little you actually need to program and use PICs!

If you want to know more, contact me at [email protected].

Aaron