Check up what other good people do (if not explicity marked, all links point to english writen pages).
1. Microchip -- Microchip official site 2. Triton -- Microchip in Russia 3. Excellent PIC programming softwire -- PicPgm by dl4yhf 4. Commercial hobby kit based on pic18f2550 -- Good hobby PIC kit 5. Atmel AtMega based software USB controller -- MJoy by Meandog 6. Fun place, partially intended to servomechanics and optics -- Microcontrollers and more 1. Orbiter -- A free space flight simulator 2. "Buran" -- Soviet space shuttle project (eng/rus)