PIC16F887 Demo Board for Beginners...

I hope these will help you on your journey of learning PIC microcontrollers. I choose the PIC16F887 device because it is one of the latest PIC16 series from microchip. It is cheap, has a big memory, commonly available, etc...And most of all it is almost the same with and pin-compatible with PIC16F877A. In fact, you can find code examples intended for the PIC16F887 in mikroC help files.

The PIC16F887 Demo Board.

 

The schematic diagram.

If you want to work with microcontrollers it is a great advantage if you own a development/demo board. There will be no problem with the hardware setup. It eliminates the usual problems faced by PIC newbies: badly designed circuit, bread board loose connections as well as misconnections, problem with the programmer, etc.. If you can't afford to buy one, you can build one yourself. 
The major parts are the PIC16F887, MAX232, 7 segments and the LEDs. The LCD is optional but there is headers for it if needed. These board can cost more or less 15 USD. If anybody wants the PCB layout just comment. 
These board was designed to allow students, hobbyist and the like to start exploring the capabilities of the PIC microcontrollers by their own and with less difficulty.  These board can be used for many types of electronic projects, development and application prototyping. In addition, it can be used for demonstration, training, and education purposes. 



Here is a sample video of  the other demo boards in action. The only difference with these boards with the others is the number of 7 segments used and it's placement. But basically they are the same.

 

                                                                                  

    Every now and then I added some features on my demo boards. The last video was the latest which has an optional jumper switch to connect a button on the external interrupt pin(RB0). It also has a LED indicator that turns on when the board is connected to the mikro bootloader (PC side). I plan to use more switches next time as well as use more female headers to have more auxiliary inputs/outputs.



P.S.
Sorry for my bad English and typos.