PP875 a Parallel Port PIC Programmer 

A simple PC parallel port programmer for serial programming of MicroChip  PIC16C84/71 and 12C508/9 micro's. And with new software many more devices are now supported.
 
 

Software 

All of the files you need are within PP875 zip file (85KB).
First read PPWORD.DOC this is in MS Word 6 or WordPad for Win 95 format.  The document contains a PCB overlay for direct printing onto clear film. It will also tell you about making the hardware, connections to parallel port, testing and using the software.

If the PCB layout in the word document is not high enough quality and you can't read the BoardMaker PCB file a higher resolution .BMP image is here. You will have to size it correctly when you print it out.

The main program (pp875.exe) is a DOS command line driven program that will run under Win95. I use Programmers File Editor (608K) to create programs and configure the 'Launch Windows/DOS Application' button to run the programmer.  This is the quickest way I have found to develop code since you are not constantly hopping between different applications. You can also configure the 'Execute DOS command' button to run the Microchip MPASM assembler.

PFE is by A.Phillips, you can find the latest updates at PFE home page.

If you would like to use windows based software to drive the programmer then Jens Simon has sent me a great interface called PICDialog, this works with the 8pin PIC's 12C508/9 and 12C671/2. Here is a screen shot of the interface.

11/2000I came across ICPROG Ver1.04 (470K)  a great windows based interface by Bonny Gijzen. Set the hardware to TAIT serial programmer with data out, data in and clock inverted. Nice one Bonny!
Have now had a chance to test out ICPROG Ver 1.02 with the PICS listed below.  A small modification has to be made to the capacitors (no extra parts needed), but once this is done the software works very reliably.
Parts tested: PIC16C508, 16CE673, 16C71, 16F84, 16C877 (via adapter).
 

Documentation 
 

If you need help with the programmer PLEASE read the FAQ first, it contain lot's of information on components, testing, and software problems.  There are now over 500 programmers in use so if you have a problems then you are probably doing something wrong: Faq.txt (7K)__

Updates for the future will probable include an integrated ROM reading program, assembler derived fuse settings and additional pic types but I can't tell you when this will happen.

Links

David Tait's PIC Archive

Microchip Home Page