Background
In the book "Programming Microchip PICs With PicBasic" Chuck Hellebuyck used a bootloader board for all the experiments. We never dreamed so many people would ask where to buy that board. Unfortunately while the book was being finalized, several things happened that prevented an exact copy to be reproduced. The original development board Chuck used was the 2802 board from BasicMicro.com. They discontinued it and replaced it with the 2840 version. Then the bootloader software used, meloader from microEngineering Labs, was discontinued with no replacement. We found a free replacement on the internet and the documentation below describes how to build your own bootloader board using the 2840 board from BasicMicro.com and the PicLoader by Shane Tolmie at microchipC.com.

Original Board
The original bootloader board used the 2802 development board and the meloader software as seen in the picture below. 

There are two connections, not shown, that are under the board. They connect the Tx pin from the RS232 chip to C6 of the PIC and the RX pin to C7.  The PIC 16F876 shown is programmed with the meloader .hex file and also a 4 Mhz resonator is included (shown just above the PIC). This was all that was needed to build this bootloader board out of a 2802 board. Fortunately the replacement is just as easy to build and because we found a free bootloader, it's also cheaper.

Replacement Board
The replacement board we put together using the 2840 development board is shown below:

The connection wires are not soldered under the board so you can see where to install them. This also demonstrates that you don't need a soldering iron to build this bootloader board. The yellow wire connects the 2840 Rx socket to the C7 socket. The orange wire connects the Tx socket to the C6 socket. The picture below shows a close-up.

These are all the connections you need to make to convert the 2840 board into a bootloader board. The only thing left to add is the PicLoader PIC16F876 chip and the 4 Mhz resonator.
 

PicLoader Software
The PicLoader bootloader software from Shane Tolmie is the perfect replacement for the meloader bootloader software that was discontinued. Best of all it's free and can be downloaded from microchipC.com at the following link
http://www.microchipc.com/PIC16bootload/index.htm

The software comes as a .zip file. Inside the .zip file are many files but all you really need are two of them. The "PIC downloader.exe" file and the "60419 - bootldr-v2-16f876-77-04Mhz-19200bps.hex" file. The .hex file is the bootloader code that needs to be burned into the PIC16F876. The PIC downloader.exe file is the Windows programming software shown in the picture below. From this window you download the .hex file created with PicBasic into the bootloader board PIC 16F876.

There is one hang-up to this free software though. You need a PIC Programmer to burn the "60419 - bootldr-v2-16f876-77-04Mhz-19200bps.hex" file into a blank PIC16F876. This means you either need a friend with a PIC Programmer or you need to buy one, which isn't a bad investment. You can also buy just the PIC chip from us at elproducts.com. More details are below. 

The PicLoader offers many different .hex files depending on which PIC you use and also what oscillator frequency you want. The proper file to match the PIC16F876 and 4 Mhz  used in the book is:

60419 - bootldr-v2-16f876-77-04Mhz-19200bps.hex

This will give you a PIC 16F876 running at 4 Mhz and will communicate with the PicLoader software at 19200 bits per second download. The PicLoader uses the COM port and you can select which one in the windows software.

Running the Bootloader
After you have the 2840 board built with its two simple jumpers and you have installed the PIC16F876 PicLoader chip and 4 mhz resonator you are ready to run the PicLoader software and program your first project.

The PicLoader is quite easy to use. After you start the software, you click on the search button to find your .hex file created with PicBasic or PicBasic Pro (make sure you include the "define loader_used 1" line in your PBPro program). Then click on the "Write" button. The info window will display "searching for bootloader". At this point you press the reset button on the 2840 board and the program should start downloading. You will see the blue bar, below the info window, increase in size as the program downloads. When the program is finished downloading, it will immediately start running in the PIC 16F876.
That's it. If you get to here you've successfully built and used your own bootloader board.

If the software cannot find the bootloader, it will continue to say searching for bootloader. That means the serial connection is not correct (wrong COM port selected) or something is wrong with the bootloader board (make sure power is on).
There really isn't much that can go wrong. Email us here if you have any problems at chuck@elproducts.com.

Purchasing the PicLoader Chip or Bootloader Package
For those that don't want to run around for all the pieces, we offer a package with all the necessary components. The package includes an unmodified 2840 board, PicLoader chip with 4mhz bootloader .hex files burned in, 4Mhz resonator, serial cable, power adapter, jumper wires and the PicLoader software on floppy disk. Plus we include a nice carry case to keep it all together. This package costs $94.00 ( $100 with $6.00 shipping).

We also offer just the PIC16F876 with the PicLoader 4mhz .hex file burned in and a 4 Mhz resonator for $14.00 each. Some may want several so they can keep each program on a separate chip. For these users we offer a volume discount. Five PIC16F876 with PicLoader burned in for $10.00 each or $50.00 total (plus shipping).
 

We also offer a PIC16F877 40 pin version which will work the same way. You just plug it into the 40 pin socket instead if the 28 pin socket used for the PIC 16F876. This gives you more I/O and your PicBasic program doesn't have to change (unless you access the extra I/O).

Hopefully this will help many others get going with the book projects. Any questions regarding this should be directed to chuck@elproducts.com.

All content on this site is copyrighted by Elecronic Products and Chuck Hellebuyck 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003. Reproduction of this is strictly prohibited without written permission from Chuck Hellebuyck.