Which PIC for emulator?

[Andrew K. Mattei]

> Which PIC microcontroller are people planning on using in the EPROM
> emulator?  I checked MicroChip's web site and the fancy flash versions
> are brand new and probably not yet available.
> 

As soon as this thread started, I began learning about PICs. ;) The
16F877 is the one I've been focusing on. It's been listed as a "future
product" on their web page for at least a month now. With the silicon
industry, and the rate it changes, I'd "assume" that in a month they'd
be able to get it out the door.

The '877 has 33 I/O pins, in circuit programming, flash (8k), etc... For
I/O, I see 4 for RS232 (need TX, RX, CTS, RTS), 8 for data, 17 for
addresses, 1 !OE, 1 !PGM, 1 Bank Select, and one for.... If the program
could be written in less than 8k, we could drop a chip level to the
16F874.

I'm "assuming" we need the hardware flow control if you're downloading
an entire binary image. The PIC needs to pass this info through to the
SRAM, so, I'd "guess" that we need to give the computer a "whoa nellie"
so that it doesn't send data too fast.

I've found Microchip application notes on "Software Implementation of
Asynchronous Serial I/O", "In Circuit Serial Programming of Calibration
Parameters", and "Downloading HEX Files to PIC16F87X PICmicro
Microcontrollers". Looking at those may give us some ideas on how to do
what we want. :)

Now, to sift through the hundreds of pages of printouts I have. :)

-Andrew