using picprog

i used picprog successfully to read (on both laptop and desktop) and write (on desktop only; wimpy laptop!) hexes to/from pics. i found that sometimes i needed to use --erase with --burn to get it to start when a totally different hex was already on the pic, and --slow helped with the bad idea of trying to burn a pic in a breadboard (picprog --erase --burn -i code.hex --slow). always make sure to read the pic (picprog -o save.hex) before writing in case you screw up the calibrations. sometimes the auto device recognition didn't work, and i had to use --device pic18f877a (for example) the first time i ran it after plugging in the programmer. after the first time, though, it seemed to remember what i had on there. when i first tried to burn a hex to my pics, i found that picprog 1.7-r1 didn't work with my jdm2 programmer (worked for reading, though). i had to upgrade to 1.8.3, which worked just fine. i haven't encountered this yet, but i might need to upgrade to 1.9.0 to use the --reboot option if i use the internal oscillator. jdm programmers have a well-known problem with pics in this configuration because they will start running as soon as they're turned on.