Darren Guiden <darren@nitebeat.demon.co.uk> wrote:

> A quick question: I have been told that the Picstart is only for use
> as a development programmer and not for final production use. I have
> used it to program a small run of '71s (50) and not had any
> problems, or am I missing something.....
>
> Or could Microchip just be trying to sell me a Promaster :)

Darren:

The PROMATE (it ceased to be called PROMASTER over a year ago)
verifies programming at two voltages; the PICSTART (and all the DIY
hobbyist-type programmers of which I'm aware) only verifies at one
voltage.  It's possible for a PIC to verify correctly at one
voltage, but fail at another.

Your PICSTART is probably fine for small runs like yours, but for
real production runs, it'd probably be a good idea to get a real
production programmer like the PROMATE (or PROMATE-II, now).

-Andy

Andrew Warren - fastfwd@ix.netcom.com
Fast Forward Engineering, Vista, California
http://www.geopages.com/SiliconValley/2499