Hi
Please tell me about
What are the major differences in PIC16F877 vs PIC16F877A Microcontrollers.
And which is the best for in-circuit debugging?
THANX
There is very little difference. Check the Microchip site. Though the 877 is still produced the price keeps going up since it is a legacy part. Even the 877A has now been superceded by the 16F887 part. MPLAB and several compilers support the 887 part, so you should look at that part.
Unless you are doing a complex design, consider using a bootloader rather than ICD. Check out www.oshonsoft.com, www.mikroe.com and www.melabs.com. The Oshonsoft includes a Simulator as well as a Basic compiler and a bootloader.
The 16F877A is a newer part. It's FLASH programming is faster (and different) than the 16F877.
The 16F877A also has a pair of comparators which must be disabled (on by default) if you want it to preform like a 16F877
As for ICD they are both the same, the A will program slightly faster and there is no need to use the non A version.
However looking at the one you are using, the main pages do refer to the 16C chips which are different from the 16Fs.
Is there a bigger device list actually showing the 16F877.