Bootloader? What is that for?!!

[rikotech8]

Hello guys!
I am not a professional ccs programmer that's why I often ask such a type of questions.
What is a bootloader and why we use it?
Thank you for helping me understand controllers better!
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A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

[Gabriel]

Brief explanation:

its a small program that you burn once with a normal programmer like a Pickit ...

later when you want to upload your code you send it to the pic using the serial port...

the small program you burned, takes the serial data and writes it to your code space...

basically eliminates the need for a programmer.
this allows for firmware updates without a programmer.

G.
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CCS PCM 5.078 & CCS PCH 5.093

[ckielstra]

Just to emphasize it a bit more:
A bootloader is a program on your chip that allows someone in the field (customer or service person) to update the firmware without special programming hardware. Often the user then connects the serial port to his PC for uploading the new firmware software. USB and ethernet bootloaders also exist.

When your chip is only ever going to be programmed in the factory or your lab, then you don't need a bootloader. A bootloader is slower than programming with your special programming hardware (ICD, PicKit, etc) and it takes up about 1k of ROM.

[asmallri]

A bootloader can be used to replace all or just part of the space you have allocated for the application program. Depending on the implementation. a bootloader can modify as little as a single byte of program memory. This enables a bootloader to be used to update tables maintained in program memory (for example an emulated EEPROM) without updating the application itself.
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Regards, Andrew

http://www.brushelectronics.com/software
Home of Ethernet, SD card and Encrypted Serial Bootloaders for PICs!!