TABLE OF CONTENTS On the CD This appendix discusses use of the Jolt and Colt serial bootloaders for downloading PIC18F242 programs using the serial port interface. Martin Dubuc wrote both programs, and the Jolt/Colt home pages are found at http://mdubucfreeshell.org/{Jolt/Colt}. The bootloader programs are self-extracting executables named bootldr/ColtSetup.exe and bootldr/JoltSetup.exe on this book's companion CD-ROM. Jolt has more features than Colt in terms of viewing the code to be programmed and altering configuration bit settings, but requires installation of the Java Runtime Environment. Both Jolt and Colt are compatible with Windows XP. At Mississippi State University, Colt is generally preferred by students because of its simpler installation.
Each bootloader consists of two parts: firmware that resides on the PIC18 and a client that runs on the PC. The PC client reads a hex file and sends the program memory contents over the PC serial port to the PIC18 bootloader firmware that programs the PIC18 program memory with the incoming bytes. EEPROM data memory and configuration bits can be programmed by the bootloader as well. The PIC18 bootloader firmware is the same for both Colt and Jolt. The bootloader firmware is in a file named bootload.hex that is found within the respective default installation directories ( C:/Program Files/Colt PIC18F Bootloader, C:/Program Files/Jolt PIC18F Bootloader). A version of the bootloader hex file with the configuration bits set to options used for the book PIC18F242 reference system is found in code/labs/bootload_hspll.hex.
Programming the bootloader firmware requires use...
