----- Original Message -----
From: Heinz Czychun <hczychun@BLVL.IGS.NET>


>         I purchased the ICD without the Demo Board, or Header, so I
> can only go by the documentation. My guess would be that to maintain
> maximum flexibility they left the PIC Tx/Rx pins uncommitted. It
> would have been better to have built the board with pins to jumper
> the MAX232 to the PIC.

The Tx/Rx pins ARE wired to the PIC (to RB6 & RB7), but the RTS, CTS
pins are not, there isn't even a spare through-hole in which for me to
jumper wire them to the PIC header.

If you look at the "MPLAB ICD User's Guide", paper version, page 74 (or
DS51184D.pdf, PDF "page" 80, but on the bottom it is listed as page 74)
you will find two lines labeled XXX and YYY, two other lines assigned to
RC7 and RC7.  RC6 and RC7 go to the appropriate PIC pin, XXX and YYY go
nowhere.

>         As the parts around the MAX232 are optional and default, not
> populated, uChip left those connections as an exercise for the
> purchaser ;-) It would have been nice of them to mention it in
> Section A.3.6 where they talk about the RS-232 Serial Port.

It does say that the parts section needs to be populated.  It looks like
the demo board is a brain fart, I don't see the point in optional parts
if it's missing two wires to make better use of it, to the point of
missing through-holes to even jumpering it from the transistor.

>         I have a guestion on the operation of the ICD. How does it
> know what type of chip it is programming?

For one, Microchip makes no claim that I know that it will program the
F8X(A) and F62X chips, they are a different branch in the product family
as well, and the  PGD, PGC, PGM and Vpp pin labels do not show up on the
F84 data sheet, for instance.

My guess from comments on various F87X programmers in the past is that
programming spec-wise, the PIC16F87X line are pretty darn similar if not
identical.

Jeff

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