gnupic: DIY USB programmer ?
Subject:
Re: DIY USB programmer ?
From:
Manuel Bessler ####@####.####
Date:
6 Jan 2005 17:17:39 +0000
Message-Id: <20050106181424.G27123@betazed3.varxec.de>
Byron,
On Thu, Jan 06, 2005 at 07:44:30AM -0500, Byron A Jeff wrote:
> > Verify would in my case be an important 'feature'. Otherwise debugging
> > is hard to do. It could be a misprogrammed PIC, a problem with the
> > target circuitry,...
>
> Again keep it simple. You can put a function in the firmware to dump a
> checksum of the program memory.
>
> The impression that I got from your original requirements is that this
> code dumper would not be for development. just initial loads and updates.
> With that being the case, the only thing required to check is for a
> misprogrammed PIC. And you can simply implement a firmware function that
> will give you a checksum of the program memory. If the checksum matches,
> then you know the firmware is good. The PIC can send it via the serial
> port.
I need verify. While the main PIC in my project could do the reporting
back the checksum via RS232, the other boards ("daughterboards") can't
at the moment. There's no 'back' channel. It wasn't designed into the
originals. I have realized that I could need it now, but I can't change
it at this point. Maybe when I do an partial redesign of the
motherboard/daughterboard comms. Right now all the daughterboards do is
receive data and control some outputs according to the received data.
And as I said, verify would be good since the users might have problems
with their setup, and debugging via email/IM is not easy. I've done this
and it ain't fun.
Implementing a verify function via a USB-to-RS232 converter might be
hard to do... maybe using a USB-to-parallel might be helpful here.
Manuel
--
Opensource/Free Software: No Gates, No Windows
