pic18f2450 and linux

I am just curious if anyone knows how to use the mplab icd 2 with the DM300027 development board on Linux (USB port). I've been able to do the whole "light up LEDs" with the parallel port, but everything I look at on the web for programming pics (18f2450) with Linux ends up coming just short of being a good solution. In any event I can see that the Linux community has really been getting into hardware I/O and this is definitely a great thing. To fill you all in on the purpose it is to completely automate a home brewing process. Linux and beer seem to go well together.

Originally Posted by Bill_Blessing ..., but everything I look at on the web for programming pics (18f2450) with Linux ends up coming just short of being a good solution.

Well said.

I worked for the last 4 years developing code for several little microcontrollers, including PICs , on a GNU/Linux platform. But it was a point of frustration for me that I could not find a reliable way to program them directly from Linux. I ran various compilers under Wine well enough, but I couldn't get MPLab to work or any programmer.

My solution was to keep an old Win2K machine under the desk connected to various programmers. I ran TightVNC server on Windows and kept a VNC client window open on Linux. Thus the one dirty little task that Windows was necessary for was at least contained in a window on Linux.

Perhaps Wine could be one solution. I don't know. At the moment I've been optically isolating pins on the parallel port. I refuse to give up on this one, though if I were at it for 4 years I might think otherwise. I agree, though, that Windows will play a big part in programming pics for at least a while longer. It will be SO worth it, though, once pics can be easily programmed and tested with Linux.