Here's a PCB design for a bare bones PIC16F877 development board. All you need is a 4mhz crystal, two 22pf caps, one 4.7k resistor, and eight 470 ohm resistors, a 7805 regulator (not necessarily necessary, read below), and some LEDs (you don't need to put all 33 LEDs on, just as many as you need to debug your programs).

this board is useful for project development because:

= it will show you pin states on the LEDs (if the LED jumper is on) in an easy to read way (the board reorganizes the PIC pins so all the pins on the same port are next to each other)

= it allows easy prototyping interface with the PIC via either (A) the top holes of the wire wrap sockets on the sides or (B) the wire wrap posts underneath

= allows easy power connection

= allows slight expansion on the right side (can put a small circuit there for serial interface or whatever)

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download ExpressPCB (look it up on the net)

download the .pcb file

open the file, click 'layout', click 'order via internet' and you can get three of these boards for $59 total (includes shipping) if you click the mini-board option.

enjoy
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PIC_General.pcb
Download

Step 1: PCB Description

This PCB is set up so that ports B, C, and D each have their own set of 8 LEDs.
Port A (which only has six lines A0-A5) and Port E (which only has three lines E0-E2) are combined into one set of 9 LEDs.
Each set of LEDs can be enabled or disabled by using a jumper.
Then there are two more jumpers for controlling weather you're using a 5v or >5v power input.

The molex holes lining the sides of the PIC allow one to put wire wrap sockets (cut in half) or headers to be put in. This allows easy connection of all the PIC I/O lines with external devices and the prototype area on the right.

Six of the squares scattered around are for jumpers. One if to let you access the 5v and gnd of the circuit(in case you want to use a logic probe).

There are four jumpers to enable or disable the four sets of LEDs (one LED per i/o line) (one set of 9 LEDs, and three sets of 8 LEDs).

There are another two jumpers (in line with the power input adaptor) which decide if you're using a 5v (doesn't need to be regulated) or >5v power supply (does need to be regulated by a 7805 5v regulator).

The molex holes at the right are big enough and spaced correctly to allow wire wrap sockets to be inserted. You can make test circuits there.

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Here's a Great PIC Intro Book if you need to learn more about PICs.
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