How to build my own pic16f84a programmer?

microcontroller..

You would really be doing yourself a favor if you just bought one instead. Or you could build one from a kit. Building the ultra cheap "dumb" programmers is very likely to lead to much frustration unless you happen to luck out with everything. You will have plenty of challenges getting your PIC projects working without having to worry about your programmer not working correctly. A good, reliable programmer uses an on-board micro to do the actual flash programming so it doesn't depend upon cable characteristics, pc port voltages etc... I use a PICALL programmer as described at

Instead of the 16F84, I suggest you look at the 16F628 as the 16F84 is now obsolete. Since you are new to PICs maybe the 18Fxx2 type chips might interest you more. You also ABSOLUTELY NEED to go to

microcontroller..

Take a look at:

David Tait's programmer for the parallel port works well at:

All you need is one 7407 hex open collector buffer, and a few other parts. Works every time and costs less than $5. But don't use the 16f84, use the newer

-Bill

Agreed. But note: don't take a 16F628A, that chips programs differently.

Wouter van Ooijen

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