Hello Chaps,

Please help a NewBoy start. I'm moving up from Picaxe and the change is traumatic.

What I want at the-end-of-the-day:
To be able to programme a 16F88 in circuit via a cheap'n'cheerful serial PC link using the MAX232 (or similar).

I have Proton IDE and a MELABS USB programmer.
(I was going to make my own programming board for trial.)

I've picked up a lot of useful information from the Proton forum, but have got stuck due to ineptitude.

My confusions:
- I believe I have to use the programmer to download 'firmware' to allow me to programme/load subsequent code. Where is this 'firmware'?

- Is the above a 2-stage process? I have installed the MELABS programmer software, so where do I go from there?

- What are the pinouts of the MELABS USB programmer to allow me to load the firmware/subsequent code in-circuit? (i.e. in-my-circuit)
(The Mecanique website shows an ICSP diag. but the programmer pins are perhaps only for the serial programmer as they don't tie up).

And finally, a last question:
Is there a simpler PC serial to programmed PIC , rather than using a MAX232 based circuit? (That will work safely).

I'm getting muddled with the terminology interchange of 'bootloader' and 'firmware' too which isn't helping.

I am terminologically challenged and obviously thick.

Thanks. (Any drawings/circuit diagrams/links gratefully accepted).