> Already doing that as the LCD display and keypad is remote and it has it's 
> own
> PIC16F88, with comms over an RS232 like interface. I send instructions 
> like "put
> this string of characters on line 2".

Why not change the interface to "Display strinig 1 on line 2" and store all 
your strings in the other PIC.

>> If you can tweak the board how about adding an external serial memory
>> chip? The menus probably won't be accessed often so loading them over a
>> serial link may not be bad?
>
> Not keen on that (hardware wise), but could use on chip EEPROM to store 
> some
> strings I guess, but really that would only be a saving of a few hundred 
> bytes max.
>
>> you could try the 18F1320, no more instruction words but its 18 series
>> which should be able to do the same C code in less words (and since your
>> coding in C migration to the pic18 core shouldn't be too hard).
>
> Interesting idea... so I did a quick test to try it.
> Compiling for PIC16F88 --> 3669 words (89.6% of 4096 words).
> Compiling for PIC18F1320 --> 3511 words (85.7% of 4096 words).
> Used Hi-Tech PICC and PICC-18 Compilers. Commented out about a dowzen 
> lines
> that wouldn;t compile without some tweaking. Not a huge difference in code 
> size
> although it does at least tend to confirm that 18F programs can be more 
> size
> efficient as one might expect.
>
> Other bit's and pieces... I'm not using floats, printf or any large data 
> structures. My
> menu structure is not great but not obese either. The one thing that 
> pushed me over
> the top was adding CRC checking for my 1 wire temperature sensors - 
> needed it
> because I'm getting the occasional erroneous result. This adds about 300 
> program
> words.
>
> Having made some improvements and nips/tucks in other areas I think I will 
> keep
> plodding along and get as much code as possible squeeezed in to my 
> prototype(s) -
> gotta be working by the end of this week! After that I'll have to look at 
> a bigger
> micro, new PCB, seems like there are a few possibilities.
>
> It's a shame I can't find anything about a PIC16F89. A couple of ICE 
> vendors make
> pods described as being for PIC16F87/88/89 so perhaps this is something
> scheduled for the future, and just maybe the difference is it has larger 
> Flash? Can't
> help the feeling that I've read about it somewhere.
>
> Thanks all for the tips.
> -- 
> Brent Brown, Electronic Design Solutions
> 16 English Street, St Andrews,
> Hamilton 3200, New Zealand
> Ph: +64 7 849 0069
> Fax: +64 7 849 0071
> Cell: 027 433 4069
> eMail:  brent.brown@clear.net.nz
>
>
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