Drew Vassallo wrote:
> Is it my imagination, or can you take a 16F87X series PIC and...use the
> remaining...program memory as general RAM storage?

Yes, but the flash is only rated to 1000 writes.  I wouldn't use it as
regular ram unless the values didn't change more than a few times a week.

> Anyone do this on a regular basis?

Yes, this is good for infrequently changed values.

> I was
> going to use an external EEPROM, but because of this feature, I'm thinking I
> can just use the unused program memory as NVM RAM... no?  Does this permit
> the possibility of generating tables on-the-fly and maintaining the values
> after power down?

Yes.

> Oh, and while we're on the subject, is it possible in MPLAB to limit the
> programmer to a certain range of memory locations (e.g. 0-1K) to avoid
> programming every unused location with FFFF?

Yes, I do this with my '876s (they take awhile to program if I don't).
Once you start the picstart programmer (enable it), go back up to the
picstart menu, and select the program option.  the programming window
comes up, but it doesn't start programming.  Put the range you want to
program into the boxes, and hit 'program'.

Much faster.

-Adam

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