Programming PIC microcontroller

[bigone5500]

Do I need a PICKIT debugger to program a PIC? I am coming across these chips more often in my salvaging efforts and if I need one, it may be in my best interest to get one. My recent find is a PIC16F616.

 

[Gryd3]

Do I need a PICKIT debugger to program a PIC? I am coming across these chips more often in my salvaging efforts and if I need one, it may be in my best interest to get one. My recent find is a PIC16F616.

A pickit will make your life easier, but it's not an absolute requirement...
The reason it makes your life easier, is because pics actually require a 12V (I think) connection when you are programming them. If you can supply this in addition to the logic voltage levels, you can program a pic from another micro controller or another interface on a computer. (parallel for example)
This is much harder than simply using a pickit though... I would recommend using a pickit... best of luck

 

[bigone5500]

A pickit will make your life easier, but it's not an absolute requirement...
The reason it makes your life easier, is because pics actually require a 12V (I think) connection when you are programming them. If you can supply this in addition to the logic voltage levels, you can program a pic from another micro controller or another interface on a computer. (parallel for example)
This is much harder than simply using a pickit though... I would recommend using a pickit... best of luck

Thanks.

 

[Colin Mitchell]

The debugger will just frustrate you.
You just need PICkit-2 to program the chips and MPASMWIN to take your program consisting of lines of assembly code and produce a .hex file

 

[Minder]

One advantage of the Pickit 2 over the 3 is if you do not need to program the latest and future Pic's is you can get the standalone .Hex program which also has the Signal generator/analyzer and USART debug feature which is very useful, I have found the ICD very useful for debugging.
Also MPlab 8.92 is needed.
M.