Hi,

I have just completed the prototype hardware and software for my
first PIC based project, but cannot seem to find the answer to a
couple of questions.

At the moment I am using the windowed CERDIP package of the PIC16C63,
but in the final product would like to use surface mount and serial
programming.  The number of boards is small (< 100), and although the
PICStart Plus programmer documentation does not recommend its use for
production I'm wondering if I can use it at all for serial
programming ?  Can I plug a header into the programmer and take the
five lines required to connections on my circuit ?  I have nothing
connected to RB7, and will probably need to use a jumper on RB6 for
programming.  /MCLR is pulled upto 5V via a 10k resistor, and the
rest of the circuit will not draw significant current during
programming.

Secondly, I tried programming a couple of the windowed 16C63 devices
with the configurations bits set to enable code protection.  Now
everytime I try to use them, they are not blank.  I thought these
devices were fully erasable, but it would seem I was wrong ? - Have I
now rendered these devices totally useless ?

Thanks for any help.

Cheers, Ian.