What's the best approach to ICD?

[jamesjl]

Hi All,

I have been programming the 16 series Microchip controller for a couple of years now and I am starting to move onto larger and more complex solutions that don't suit my traditional way of debugging, i.e. write the code with lots of <I>printf ("blah blah blah"); </I> statements and watch what happens in a serial window.

I use the PicStart Plus programmer which I have adapted to perform ICSP. This has saved me a lot of time butthe debugging aspects of my project development still require refinement.

There are many articles in this news group about the ICD from CCS and Microchip, and a debugger seems like a great way to go. I currently use CCS C V3.182 and MPLab 3.6. Everyting appears to work well.

Which ICD should I use for programming the 16 and 18 series of controllers from Microchip. Will the ICD integrate into MPLab and provide me with debugging capabilities in that environment or do I need the windows complier (PCW) from CCS. Is there anything else I need to know or should consider before spending my money? Are the ICD and PCW software available from any resellers in the UK?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer, Jason.

[Mark]

I am quite happy with the ICD2. I like the fact that it works from within MPLAB which allows me a wide range of compilers to use.