Do you have any details regarding the controller you plan to use? If your heart isn't set on a PIC, I'd recommend an AVR. Or possibly an Arduino, which is an easy way to get into AVRs. The official USB Arduino Diecimila is only about $35, and there are third-party cheaper versions. Freeduino is $26, some soldering required. I haven't used PICs since the 16F84, but I believe if you can find some code that is designed to work with a shift register, you could easily adapt it.
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Do you have any details
Do you have any details regarding the controller you plan to use? If your heart isn't set on a PIC, I'd recommend an AVR. Or possibly an Arduino, which is an easy way to get into AVRs. The official USB Arduino Diecimila is only about $35, and there are third-party cheaper versions. Freeduino is $26, some soldering required. I haven't used PICs since the 16F84, but I believe if you can find some code that is designed to work with a shift register, you could easily adapt it.