ok, if it's that easy I might be talked into doing it.  Would I do 
16f628 or 16f628A?  Not sure what the difference is between those 
with/without the A.. just an update of some sort?

I see that the EasyProg supports the 16f628.. so maybe I'm back to 
getting that..

Decisions.. decisions..

Maarten Hofman wrote:

>>I think I might go the route of getting a 16f84 first, then moving to a
>>16f628.  Especially since a book a bought a while back only uses the 84.. :)
>>    
>>
>
>If those are your choices, do yourself a favor and start with the
>16F628 instead of the 16F84. Conversion of any code you might
>encounter in the book is relatively simple:
>
>1. Change variables
>The range of variables on the 16F628 start at 0x20 instead of 0x0C.
>This means you will either have to:
>a) do nothing, in case the book uses proper relocatable code.
>b) change CBLOCK 0x0C into CBLOCK 0x20
>c) change any register definition (EQU) pointing to a register between
>0x0C and 0x1F to one that is higher or equal to 0x20.
>
>2. Initialize CMCON register to change all pins to 16F84(A) configuration
>This is done with the following code:
>  movlw 0x07
>  movwf CMCON
>If you want you can put this between a check whether CMCON exists, in
>which case the code will remain compatible with the 16F84.
>
>3. With 1-2 you will fix most of the simple code. However, some code
>for the 16F84 blithely assumes that registers are accessible
>regardless of the settings of RP0 (and RP1). You can either fix this,
>or, if you use less than 17 registers, make sure (in step 1) that all
>registers point to 0x70 to 0x7F. Also, if the code uses an interrupt
>routine and the interrupt routine ignores proper RP0 (and RP1)
>setting, you will either need to add that to the interrupt routine, or
>move all interrupt variables to the 0x70 to 0x7F region. See the
>16F628(A) manual for a good way to save and restore variables from
>interrupts properly.
>
>4. If the code uses EEPROM, note that EEADR and EEDATA are no longer
>in bank 0. This means that before accessing EEADR or EEDATA you will
>need to do:
>  banksel EEADR
>and afterwards, when using a register in bank 0 again, you need to
>  banksel <that register>
>again. See the 16F628(A) manual for a good way to access EEPROM memory.
>
>5. If the code uses the EEIE bit in INTCON, use EEIE from PIE1
>instead, and make sure to surround it with the appropriate banksel
>statements (see 4). The same counts for EEIF in INTCON, which moved to
>PIR1.
>
>6. Add _LVP_OFF to the CONFIG statement to free up RB4. If you want to
>keep your electronics simpler too, you can also disable the reset pin
>(in which case it doesn't need to be pulled up anymore) and use an
>internal oscillator (in which case you don't need a crystal anymore).
>Add the appropriate CONFIG bits for this, if you want, but make sure
>your programmer/software will still work under that configuration.
>
>This seems like a long list, but I also had a book that only use the
>16F84A, and I discovered that very little needed to be changed, most
>of the time. If you write your own programs, and they are not going to
>use the limits of the particular PICmicro, it is recommended to NOT
>use CBLOCK (and certainly not EQU) to give your registers names, but
>instead use relocatable code.
>
>Greetings,
>Maarten Hofman.
>
>  
>
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist