Pickit 1 and Pickit 2 under Linux

PICkit 1 is well supported under Linux.

http://mlug.missouri.edu/~markrages/software/usb_pickit/ 

It is based on the original work of Orion Sky Lawlor. 
http://lawlor.cs.uaf.edu/~olawlor/projects/2003/microchip/index.html 

I have also ported it to Windows.
http://forum.microchip.com/tm.asp?m=106529

Now Microchip comes out PICkit 2. From paper it is aiming to support
lots of PICs including PIC16F/18F/dsPICs. It is a pity that Microchip
has not released the source code for the firmware and the host
application. Microchip does release the source code of PICkit 1.

I know that somebody is working on PICKit 2 support under Linux.
I suggest him to persuade Microchip to release the firmware.

Regards,
Xiaofan