looks like a nice setup Mike i'm also about to design a circuit for the 683 but i'm using gEDA and mail the gerber files to iteadstudio .. it takes a few weeks to get the boards but it is sure worth waiting for the cheapest boards are 2X2 inches ( 9.90 +4 dollar PP) .. i usually get 12 pcb's.
I isolate the ICSP pins by disconnecting anything that is plugged into the RA0 (PGD), RA1 (PGC), and RA3/MCLR (VPP) connectors before programming. I got half of the wiring done on the new board today and I successfully programmed a 12F635 and a 16F1623 using ICSP (yippee!)...
another question i have .. Is it possble to have more than one button connected to a single input on the 683 ? i was thing about adding 4 buttons and maybe usinge a voltage divider for each of em and do the rest in software.. can it be done that way ?
Yes, you should be able to do that. In fact, Raj Bhatt just put up an article on his Embedded-Lab blog yesterday about doing exactly that, and I believe he's using a 12F683 too.
Another method involves mux'ing the LCD D4-D7 and RS driver lines to drive a switch matrix (between LCD operations). This method requires one additional µC pin to read five push button switches (or two pins to read ten push buttons, etc.).
i't looks like everything LCD dies .. i had 2 lcd monitors both died and they both had blown caps in the psu .. first time i have seen that happen .. even my old CRT monitor is working . anyway i have bought a 21,5" BenQ LED monitor. anyway i'm back on track with the pcb design and hopfully i will be done this week
Sorry to hear about your LCD problems. Hopefully you'll be in good shape soon.
Progress on my new proto' board has been slow. I finished wiring it up a couple days ago but I only just got it up and running today. In the picture below, the larger device on the left is a 14 pin 16F1823 and the 8 pin device on the right is the K8LH 12F635 Serial LCD interface.
i got a new monitor and see the 2 broken once as an oportunity to get my limited skills to use I have been working on a pcb design and i just need to add a ICSP header only problem is that i need to do some more reading on the subject .. my idea is to separate the ICSP part from rest of the circuit using 3 pin headers and jumpers .. got limited spcace but i'm sure it will fit on my pcb