So, I followed through the NK guide, finished it, and now I need to learn to program a new type of chip. The reason is I am part of a group project and it was decided by the other group members to not use what I know but to use what another member knows, meaning I will be programming Micro Chip micro controllers. As such, I just wanted to make sure I was correct on the point that I cannot use the USB programmer that came with the NK kit to program a blank chip; in order to program a blank Micro Chip MCU, do I need to buy an additional piece of hardware? Yes, I realize the question is basically me asking how do I stop using the hardware you guys sell/use, but I figured from the other threads I have read, and from past emails to NK, you all seem to be pretty cool about everything.

In a related topic, I realize that in order to program a chip you need the chip, a debugger, compiler, and a way to connect to the chip to program it. From the little I know about Micro Chip, they offer the compilers and debuggers on their website for free at least for some chips, can someone tell me if this is true or somewhere where I can find relevant information about getting the software. I realize that which compiler and programmer I get depends on which chip I will be using, to which the response is, I have not been told yet the guy in my group did not know offhand...

I guess the best way to word to this would be if instead I asked:

"So, now that I can do basic programming with this specific chip using this pre-made bootloader and these unstandard libraries, how do I go about learning to program a new chip without using any of the pre-made stuff which I have grown used to using? Bear in mind, I may not be using AtMega chip, so giving me the bare basics of how to start and what I would need would be much appreciated."

Oh bugger, the text of that post looks terrible, I am sorry. -Louis (original poster)