Looking For Help With GI PIC1655A Microcontroller

Hello, this is my first post in this forum, ya

I acquired a General Instrument PIC1655A-291 recently and would very much like to program it. I'm not completely sure that it IS programmable. Here is a link to the data sheet **broken link removed** .

I'm NOT very experienced with programming microcontrollers, I have another PIC18F4550 that I haven't been able to get programmed yet and also a PIC16F87 that is in a classroom style starter kit... that works great!

Anyway, I have the PIC1655A on a bread board, I've run the simple Master Clear circuit described in the data sheet. But know I have no idea what to do. I'm fine with being redirected to the Newbie area if someone would like to point me in that direction but my original question still stands, can I re-program this microcontroller and if so how?

That's an incredibly old antique, it's OTP, so if it's ever been programmed it can't be reprogrammed (it's also very low spec, and not worth using in this day and age).

It most likely also requires a specific programmer, as it's probably parallel programmed (as they were back then) rather than the more modern serial programming.

Assuming you have a suitable old programmer?, it would certainly require running under DOS.

So really a complete waste of time!.

By the way, OTP basically meaning One-Time-Programable.

Thank you for the replies! It is as I feared... Yes it is a really old chip, can't even remember where I got it, came acrossed it in a box of old components. I read somewhere that it may be a 'Mask' program? Sound though that it is not worth messing with, thanks again for the help!

Obi_X said:

Thank you for the replies! It is as I feared... Yes it is a really old chip, can't even remember where I got it, came acrossed it in a box of old components. I read somewhere that it may be a 'Mask' program? Sound though that it is not worth messing with, thanks again for the help!

Click to expand...

Could be mask programmed?, but that's even worse, it means it was NEVER programmable, it was made with the program already inside.