PICkit 2 and ZIF Socket

PICkit 2, ZIF socket from ICD2 clone, and cobbled together cable.

Well, it’s no gang programmer, but with that cable being reasonably solid I should have no problem using that setup there to program all the PICs for the forthcoming nuxx Audio Input Switch group buy. See, I’ll be offering up PCBs and programmed PICs to whoever wants them (and reserves them within a limited window) at cost as a favor to the DIY audio stuffs community and I want programming the PICs to go as easy as possible.

When I got home from work I cobbled together this cable from a spare 1×6 .100″ header, some 2 place Molex KK connectors, and an old piece of CAT5. With the PICkit 2 software now featuring a function to program (and verify) the part when the button on the programmer is pressed, so I should now be able to just drop a chip in, hit the button, wait for the box on the computer to turn green, then do it again. Even doing 100 parts (if that many people are actually interested) shouldn’t take very long at all. Yay!