PICSTART® Plus is Microchip's low cost, development programmer. It connects via the serial RS-232 port to your PC and is operated with Microchip’s Integrated Development Environment software package called MPLAB® IDE which is included with the programmer at no charge. The programmer supports most of the DIP-packaged microcontroller products available from Microchip. For specific products supported, see the README file found in MPLAB IDE for up-to-date information. Included with the kit is the programmer, serial communication cable, power supply, user's guide (in electronic format) and a copy of MPLAB IDE on CD. Also included is a free copy of the PICC Lite Compiler and a sample PIC16F84 microcontroller.

Operates with PC-compatible host system running Windows® under MPLAB environment
Reads, programs, verifies all program and data memory
Reads, programs, verifies all configuration bits
Programs and verifies an address range
Displays, edits and transfers device contents to and from programmer unit
MPLAB project support to automatically download object file to PICSTART Plus