OK - if you 3 agree in that, maybe I shall skip those "cheap" programmers ..

I was about to buy this one :

PIC-PG2C @ http://www.olimex.com/dev/pic-pg2c.html = 19 €.

OK - I go to the page pointer to by mr mackrackit ...

but the Part Number: PG164120 - PICkit 2 Microcontroller Programmer (23,84 €)

HAS NO SOCKET AT ALL, neither for the 18F452 !

The "Part Number: DV164120 - PICkit 2 Starter Kit" (34,06 €) has a "Low Pin Count Demo Board containing a PIC16F690 PDIP", and it explicitly says "The PICkit 2 Low Pin Count Demo Board supports 8-, 14-, and 20-pin PICmicros", and the 18F452 has 40 pins !

What am I doing wrong ?

I did write to Microchip, asked to program a 18F452 and a 18F4520,
and they pointed me to "Part Number: DV003001 - PICSTART PLUS DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM" which goes up to 136 € !

Thanks for your patience ! Ramon.