gnupic: Re: [gnupic] gnupic and PIC Programmer and Test Bed Kit (Australia)
Subject:
Re: [gnupic] gnupic and PIC Programmer and Test Bed Kit (Australia)
From:
Byron A Jeff ####@####.####
Date:
16 Jun 2005 05:03:50 +0100
Message-Id: <20050616040341.GA4340@cleon.cc.gatech.edu>
On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 12:04:55PM +0100, Martyn Welch wrote:
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> Hi Stuart,
>
> I guess I have a little advise:
As do I.
>
> > Hello,
> > This is my first post to the list.
Welcome aboard.
> > I live in Australia, and am about to begin exploring pic programming
> > (namely the pic16f84/a, which I guess is a good one for beginners?
No.
>
> The PIC16f84/a is quite and old chip, it has been used for a long time by
> the
> hobbyist market but is certainly less feature rich and lacks the memory
> size
> that other newer devices have.
Correct on all counts. Even worse it's more expensive than its more fully
featured bretheren. My page here describes the differences:
http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys/16F88.html
> > My main purpose with this project is to construct midi input devices).
Then the 16F84A is one of the last chips you'd want to pick.
>
> I have very little experience with MIDI,
I have quite a bit.
> however from what I remember it's a simple serial protocol.
31250 BPS 8N1 over an optoisolated current loop.
> As such it might make sense to look for a chip with a
> USART so as at least some of the timing requirements can be dealt with
> without requiring timing loops in software.
Bingo! That's why the 16F84A is one of the last chips you'd want to pick.
>
> I learnt to use PICs with the PIC16f877a. It is a larger chip, but as a
> result
> it has far more functionality, more I/O pins and more memory for programs.
It's a good choice. Now an interesting one that has be proposed on the
PICList recently is to jump all the way up to the DSPic series. One
interesting point is that chips like the DSPic 30F3013 actually have 2
fully functional hardware USARTS. They are a bit pricey (about $10 USD)
but i you need two fully functional MIDI ports, may be worth it.
>
> > I
> > have been looking at various pic programming beds, and I am thinking
> > that maybe the Silicon Chip PIC Programmer and testbed (available from
> > Dick Smith Electronics
> > (http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/42a7f8320937f6462740c0a87f9c06fa/Product/View/K3603) is probably the
> > way to go.
Limited. Very limited. I'd look elsewhere.
Also you're running on an iMac. Are you sure there's software to drive it?
> Has any one else had any experience with this programmer
> > (either in Australia or elsewhere), and
>
> I'm afraind I haven't.
>
> At work (uni) I am fortunate enough to have access to a PICStart Plus, at home
> I use a very simple programmer. I have been working on documenting this at
> "http://www.warpedlogic.co.uk" along with some basic documentation about PIC
> development - It is very much work in progress, slow progress.
Personally I appreciate anything that folks put out on the web about
PIC programming.
> I tend to use a breadboard beyond that or in house development boards.
>
> > can they tell me wether I may
> > program a pic16f84 with this bed in conjunction with the gnupic/gpasm
> > tools?
>
> I am fairly confident that it should work fine :-)
Sure.
>
> > Is the choice of a pic bed and the compiler tools fairly
> > arbitrary, as long as they can both do the same microcontroller?
>
> I work with Linux. Thus microchip's own tools are a little out of my
> reach...
As do I. Microchip's tools have been irrelevent for a long time.
>
> I guess you will find the same problem working with OS X.
Agreed. I posted something about that a couple of years ago on this list:
http://www.linuxhacker.org/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi/1/2146
BAJ
