Isaac,

many thanks for the link - I'll study that and will look at breadboarding the 1337 chip.

Melanie,

I've looked at the datasheet on many occasions, but to those of us who can only grasp the basics, these datasheets tend to be somewhat daunting, and whilst I don't possess the Rosetta Stone, sometimes Egyptian would probably seem easier than many a datasheet by half

Also, for me I learn far more about PBP from example code written by those more advanced at programming than trying to fathom out the ins and outs of complicated chip structure. After all, this is a forum on PicBASIC Pro. I guess I should of registered at Maxim's forum (assuming one exists) to ask for technical assistance with the data format from the DS1307.