Greetings List:

I dug through the Piclist archives for info on this, but didn't find
any discussions which address this point in any direct way, so I=20
am throwing the question out here.  If this has been answered here
already, could someone point me to the proper archive?

I have been using the meLabs meLoader for quite a few years now
with great success.  As everyone (?) here knows by now, they have
discontinued the product, and no longer provide support for new
chips.  Needless to say, with many new PICs appearing regularly,=20
this is a serious pain.  I have recently ordered samples of some of=20
the newer parts, and upon checking, I discover that meLoader 2.1
can't program any of them. =20

Of course I can go back to the Epic programmer, but the in-circuit=20
programming of the Flash parts via the serial port (which is there=20
anyway) is so easy I don't want to revert to the bad old days of=20

     1-unplug PIC from PCB
     2-plug into programmer =20
     3-program PIC=20
     4-unplug from programmer
     5-replace in test PCB

And, of course, this is only possible with DIP parts - for large=20
format SMTs you are right out of luck.

Yes, I could redo the PCB layout to add the external programming
pins, but that dedicates those PIC pins to programming and pretty=20
much prevents using them for much of anything else.  Also we have=20
many PCBs which were designed with the bootloader in mind, and it=20
would not be appropriate to redesign the boards just to add the=20
external programming pins.=20

An ideal solution would be for meLabs to release the source code for=20
their meLoader into the public domain, since they say they are no
longer interested in supporting it - then one could add the newer chips=20
to the repertory as they become available.  Personally, I would be only=20
to glad to post new chip formats to the list as I worked them out. =20
However, meLabs has told me they have to intention of doing that at any=20
time in the near future.

So here is the question --- has anyone found a replacement for the=20
meLoader which they like and which has been reliable?  Something
which would be a drop-in replacement (so to speak)?

Thanks in advance for any help here.
Roy J. Gromlich  -  Senior Engineer
Renaissance Technologies
5000 Ritter Road  2nd Floor
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
717-691-7090
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