ENC28J60 Hardware question

[ViperARG]

Hi my PIC friends =), I found ENC28J60 on a MCU box at my university laboratory and I found out this one are used for the ethernet module. but this one is a 28 pin DIP package which I found very weird, since is easier to buy the module already made. I see the tracks on the module that it connects straight to the SPI interface and the RJ45 Port with a 25Mhz crystal. Now my question is. Does it need to be programmed or is a ready to go chip? Which programmer tool do you use and compiler ? Does it need an external memory, (I only saw this chip on the module) ? if it doesn't, is out there a universal code for it?

Thanks in advance, big hugs =)

[Ttelmah]

The chip has it's own RAM, and an area of factory programmed 'microcode'.
It's not really a programmable chip, it's a 'configurable' chip. You talk to it using the SPI, and setup the registers to make it do what you want. It then performs various automatic functions to filter the transactions, and send/store data to/from it's internal RAM.
Some of the CCS embedded ethernet kits come with this controller, and there is supplied example code for these included with the kit.
There is a driver for the chip, supplied with the compiler (enc28J60.c), but the examples to use it are part of the separate kit.