Will do, going to have to save up a little bit to get the starting components and Picaxe kit (suggestions?) in the mean time I think it would be helpful to start learning basic

try ebay, but someone supplied links earlier, maybe have a look through them see if they do dev kits

 

Will do, going to have to save up a little bit to get the starting components and Picaxe kit (suggestions?) in the mean time I think it would be helpful to start learning basic

Do you have a protoboard? If you do then that's all you need to work with a Picaxe, but as I've said before, you can write code and simulate it directly on your PC. No hardware required.

If you don't have a serial port on your PC then you will need to purchase a USB/Serial converter. They're inexpensive, where ever you buy them. However, I recommend the model that Picaxe sells; for two reasons. One is I like the molded USB (converter circuit) connector on the PC end and molded stereo mini plug on the other. This arrangement conforms to all the various boards and kits that Picaxe offers and the mini jack, at the board end, is much cheaper than DB9 connectors. Secondly, because not all USB/Serial converters support 'Break' protocol which the Picaxe software uses during your program upload to the picaxe chip.