k150 junk! Received data error!!!!!

[Dom13c]

DISCLAIMER: My main hobby is RF related  ( Mostly HAM radio but without modern gears and I prefer to homebrew as much as possible). So apart from very rudimentary stuffs , I know almost nothing about coding or micros.
As I make receivers most often , very precise measurement for frequency hasn't been that essential for me( Luck maybe!). For passive frequency measurements( just to see that it's in the ballpark) I've so far used an old no name digitally tuned HF receiver (with only 1KHz frequency resolution ) and for almost every other very essential measurements( namely voltage and current) I've gone away with a one hung low DMM .

but , it's 2020. So, my old digital fella decided to leave me totally blind of where I am listening to in the vast electromagnetic spectrum.
googling brought me some exciting DIY PIC 16F628A frequency counters( also LCX meters
) with up to 50MHz measurement. This got me excited.
As I were to program say a maximum of 5-6 PIC's ever ( if I ever needed), I went for the cheapest programmer (  the 48$+10$ shipping tag of PICkit3 was not quite a deal of the decade to me given I were to use it occasionally )( paid 9 bucks for that off of a local seller) and a pair of 628A and 877A( EVER I NEED THEM!
 ).
The seller claimed it works on windows 10 , but!!!!!
 You know it!

After another googling storm ( went for three days literally) I discovered virtual machine software. Using that I was able to run windows XP(32bit) and windows 7 (32 bit) . In those machines , after installing microbrn application I thought I was done! but here comes another weird problem.

the K150 board connects . But whenever I try to program a chip , it shows a " Received data error. About to apply reset".
Had this been the problem , I'd have concluded the programmer is definitely dead. But what I've found out is that if I try to load a hex code which uses PIC's internal oscillator ( for 628A , 877A doesnt have internal osc)  , it gets loaded flawlessly!!!!!
Also smaller programs having less ROM memories to be programmed also gets programmed rather swiftly. Though this behaviour is rather erratic . sometimes the k150 refuses to load the same hex file it loaded minutes ago while showing the same " REceived data error, about to apply reset " crap!
upon verification it shows fuse errors whereas the ROM and EEPROM gets properly programmed and also can be read back by the programmer.

Upon searching this fuse error on google I've got a video on YouTube that showed to paste fuse value at the ID box in FUSE section. IT did nothing !
I've even tried changing program delay time in the .CID file of the software. It does nothing too!
What I'm seeing is that people are literally running from these types of crappy programmers ( wish I knew it earlier), so although the question I'm asking here has been asked a decade ago on several forums , only a few persons have bothered to answer them. I regret it but I'm a bit stuck at my position.
Buying a new original one (or even a clone) isn't a solution to me.

If anybody can help me out , it would of great pleasure.

[snarkysparky]

Reviews aren't very good for that gadget.

I have had luck with these
https://www.amazon.com/Bolsen-PICKIT3-5-Programmer-Programming-Simulation/dp/B07VLMFW8K/ref=pd_sbs_328_14?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07VLMFW8K&pd_rd_r=20e23983-734f-4ca0-92a2-7ac6096bcbba&pd_rd_w=x27Io&pd_rd_wg=bnC4o&pf_rd_p=ed1e2146-ecfe-435e-b3b5-d79fa072fd58&pf_rd_r=X0GDQN42W9WDMC9XJ35V&psc=1&refRID=X0GDQN42W9WDMC9XJ35V

[oPossum]

$25 for a genuine current model programmer/debugger

https://www.microchip.com/developmenttools/ProductDetails/PartNO/PG164100

[Doctorandus_P]

First be warned.
Programming uC's and writing software for them is dangerously addictive.
Consider yourself warned.

Paying USD50 for uC programming hardware sounds quite bonkers to me.
My first programmer was a breadboard with 3 resistors hanging off an LPT port, then I moved on to AN910 which was a (quite slow) programmer application note from Atmel and worked via a serial port.
Later I soldered my first USBasp, and alter bought some extra's for around EUR3 from China. ST-Link V2 clones also cost around EUR3 from China, and there are loads of developments for around EUR10 to EUR15 with a built in programmer. Lot's of chips even have factory built-in bootloaders (but I don't like bootloaders much)

Making a frequency counter for almost any uC is quite easy. It's just capturing a part of the signal with a counter peripheral, a few lines of math to compare it with the clock of the uC, and some kind of display. HD44780 is probably the simplest. 7-segment displays look bette in my book but need more wiring and a bit of software for multiplexing.
An advantage of starting with source code is that you can modify it. For example for another kind of display or by compensating for a prescaler to measure higher frequencies.

But if you just want a counter. There are probably loads of kits available with a pre-programmed uC.


==========
An what's this Windoze XP stuff? It's obsolete for quite some years now. I would not touch it with a 12 meter flagpole. (Maybe make an exception for a baseball bat).

[Dom13c]

First be warned.
Programming uC's and writing software for them is dangerously addictive.
Consider yourself warned.

Paying USD50 for uC programming hardware sounds quite bonkers to me.
My first programmer was a breadboard with 3 resistors hanging off an LPT port, then I moved on to AN910 which was a (quite slow) programmer application note from Atmel and worked via a serial port.
Later I soldered my first USBasp, and alter bought some extra's for around EUR3 from China. ST-Link V2 clones also cost around EUR3 from China, and there are loads of developments for around EUR10 to EUR15 with a built in programmer. Lot's of chips even have factory built-in bootloaders (but I don't like bootloaders much)

Making a frequency counter for almost any uC is quite easy. It's just capturing a part of the signal with a counter peripheral, a few lines of math to compare it with the clock of the uC, and some kind of display. HD44780 is probably the simplest. 7-segment displays look bette in my book but need more wiring and a bit of software for multiplexing.
An advantage of starting with source code is that you can modify it. For example for another kind of display or by compensating for a prescaler to measure higher frequencies.

But if you just want a counter. There are probably loads of kits available with a pre-programmed uC.


==========
An what's this Windoze XP stuff? It's obsolete for quite some years now. I would not touch it with a 12 meter flagpole. (Maybe make an exception for a baseball bat).

I tried to go JDM way , but finding motherboards with serial ports is hen's teeth these days.
And after all the searches I've become a PIC fanboy ( count in it's ample availability , industry standard etc.)
I've also seen that PICs can handle higher input frequencies ,( Atmel seems sluggish over 5MHz)
On the other hand Atmel mcus and it's resources in hobby culture is pretty much limited to 328P( uno board). And I'd hate using a dev board hanging out with jumbled up wires from it's unnecessary large PCB n my final project.

Also going the stm32 road isn't that smooth due to its lower resources on the web..
Maybe I'd do what others have done..
Just buy one of the clones of pickit 3 or at most order a genuine one with my student .edu email from microchip.....

And that XP stuff was there just because I needed an os that the microbrn, the K150 software , was developed for...
I personally use 10 and wouldn't even touch anything before 7.
They all seems horrible to me.