We have successfully completed the test of fast open source UART Bootloader by Mikael Gustafsson running on our mikroMMB for dsPIC33 board. And the results are stunning! After adjustments of the source code written in assembly, bootloader turned out to be very fast and stable. We have even pushed it to the limits and worked with 512kbps with no problems. Since we are so delighted with the test results, we have decided to equip mikroMMB for dsPIC33 with bootloader by default. This way you don't have to buy external programmers, and you'll still have reliable way to program the chip.
Bootloader is adjusted to work at 256kbps. It starts on internal oscillator set to run at nearly 80MHz, giving the chip 40MIPS of power. After the bootloading is done and your program is started it can reconfigure the oscillator settings. You can also skip the oscillator settings and your program will run at 80MHz.
Be sure to watch our kick-start video tutorial on how to use the bootloader application. It so easy and intuitive. This application is available for Windows®, Linux and Mac® and can be downloaded from the creator's website, as well as from mikroMMB for dsPIC33 page.