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On Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 03:36:28PM -0600, Robert Rolf wrote:
> Uhhh, didn't he say in his original post that he HAD an Olimex programmer,
> but that he'd toasted the bootloader by using the wrong firmware update?
> 
> "I've been using the MCP-USB programmer from Sparkfun/OLIMEX.. "
> 
> " I blindly assumed I could use the PICSTART PLUS upgrade
> in MPLAB. I am pretty sure I messed up the 18F252 chip in the
> programmer."
> 
> So he made a mistake and doesn't want to spend $30 for a new chip if
> he can just burn the software he HAD ALREADY PAID FOR back into the chip.
> 
> How is that STEALING $30 worth of software he supposedly already owned
> or licensed by buying the programmer?

Come to think of it... If this were a common situation, and a company
earned a lot of money from replacement chips, it'd be fascinating to
watch the possible legal reprocussions of developing a cleanroom
implementation of the *bootloader* that after being burned into a chip
would allow the closed bootloader program load up a working firmware.

Love to see judges rule on that one... The issue of if the bootloader
was mainly used for repairs, or making whole copies of the hardware,
would of course be an issue.

Or even, take the scenario where said company uses a commonly available
bootloader code, and someone finds out that you can do that by
accident...

- -- 
http://petertodd.org
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