BENCH
Bench
A little bit about the equipment I use when developing PIC projects.
I have in my lab a recent computer that has MPLAB installed on it as well as Virtual Breadboard. With these two programs, I can write programs in assembly and simulate them two different ways. One with the built in simulator included with MPLAB. An excellent tool suite. And it's downloadable for free from Microchip's website.
The second with a program called Virtual Breadboard. This is a graphical program that allows one to setup a circuit in a manner similar to an actual breadboard. There are such things as 7 segment displays, LCD's, switches, LED's, TTL parts, PIC Micros, etc., etc. The circuit act as if you had built it on a breadboard. It's a very nice program. The version I have is about $40.00 USD. You can get a copy for yourself by going to www.virtualbreadboard.com.I have on my bench and at the ready a logic analyzer, an oscilloscope, a power supply or two, and a digital multimeter. In addition, I have a PIC programmer, a self assembled development/experiment board, an ICD, an ICD2, and several little modules that have such things as LED's or temp sensors, etc. With this equipment, I can develop and debug virtually any project I decide to design and/or build.
Elsewhere on this page, I show photos of these tools and instruments. Most of these items I acquired from Ebay. Therefore the purchase cost is very low. The prototyping boards were purchased new from various distributors. Even so, they were very affordable. The bottom line here is that I have a well appointed microcontroller applications development lab, and I didn't have to spend an arm and a leg to get it.