Re: 8-bit Bootloader from Microchip
1.- a bootloader is a small piece of HEX code that I flash into the PIC via (i.e.) a PICKit2 or 3 programmer like any other (simple) program I make. Correct?
yes
2.- once the bootloader is in the chip, I must upload my programs in HEX format via serial com (if the bootloader is made for serial com) to the PIC using its hardware UART. Correct?
not really , your hex code file data is sent by the bootloader program in a serial format to your pic using its hardware UART
3.- the bootloader code has to be adapted to each particular chip I'm using - I don't know in details "what" and "how" but it seems to be always about crystal speed, fuses (configs), bps and memory location, etc. Correct?
yes
4.- what is a software like TinyBootloader exactly doing? Is it only there to serially upload a program into the PIC or does it generate the bootloader code or what?
see q2 , it does not make any code
5.- lots of videos show the use of MPLAB to "implement" bootloaders; is it mandatory?
the pic receiver code for bootloaders is generally asm code and compiled in mplab with mpasm , the umc bootloader is a variation
6.- "self programming" has nothing to do with a PIC that can write to its program memory on runtime (i.e. WRITECODE). Correct?
WRITECODE is small subset of a pic's self programming capability, pics that cant self program cannot bootload
Warning I'm not a teacher
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