It worked on the first try!
It worked on the first try! I created a circuit based on the PIC 16f88 μcu by microchip using a max232 chip and the Tiny PIC bootloader. To my surprise, it worked on the first try. No, I’m not kidding! I used the internal 8MHz clock and otherwise had the chip configured to emulate a 16f84a (normal MCLR, normal clkout). The software is free, and the author’s only request is that you mention the original source when distributing modified versions. What a great piece of work.