i still think you're taking a fringe view on this. very few people  use a bootloader in a production environment, so
for 99% of everybody out there, including myself, thier code on a 16F877 is perfectly safe from all these evil
hackers you refer to with the available-right-now code protection features.

i'm sure since it won't do what *YOU* want it to do, and that's all *YOU* care about, it seems like it's a bad part,
but i think you are out of line posting things like this. back in the real world, *YOU* are probably the only one
having a problem because *YOU* failed to design with parts that are available.

dld


>So, if anyone is using the F877, you are stuck with the copyable flash and
>memory-dumpable code protected region from pirate code getting past your
>bootloader.  Basically the chip is very, very weak and unfortunately is a
>poor design.  They've fixed it in the 77A and 18Fxx2, but it took forever,
>and is stil not fixed for another 5 months.  And, if weak chips get into the
>stream, you can't close pandora's box.
>
>So, do your best, but know you are delaing with a weak chip.  Darn!!!!!  And
>to think the 18F gave me that glimmer of hope, just to take it away again.
>That was a mind screw I didn't need.  The 16F877:  great little chip, even
>better for hackers and reverse engineers and code copyers.
>
>Ron

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