Help choose a PIC programmer.
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From: coldfeet on 23 Feb 2010 18:28 Hi, I am thinking about buying or building a PIC programmer and would appreciate some advice in choosing one. I've never laid hands on one so am I not sure what to look for. I am a hobbyist and would like to program the occasional IC just to simplify my circuit building. It would be nice to program a wide variety if chips but in reality I would probably just pick a few that I was comfortable with and stick to them. My programming skills aren't all that great. I'm comfortable with editing VB script or using graphical programs. If I have to I could probably learn basic or c. The less code I have to write the better. I would like to keep the price tag under $60. I've read that it's best to get one that can be debugged in place so that would probably be good too. Anyone have any ideas which programmer might be best for someone like me? TIA
From: Frank Buss on 23 Feb 2010 18:40 coldfeet wrote: > Anyone have any ideas which programmer might be best for someone like > me? I can recommend PICkit 2, works without problems for me. Some time ago there were problems reported for PICkit 3, but maybe they have fixed it meanwhile. I think PICkit 2 has a debugging interface, too, for devices with ICD support, but I didn't need it so far, because in C usually some printfs or LED blinking are sufficient, and for assembler you can simulate the program in the MPlab IDE without hardware. -- Frank Buss, fb(a)frank-buss.de http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de
From: Martin Riddle on 23 Feb 2010 18:44 "coldfeet" <sixcoldfeet(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:d3d2b24a-baf2-4aff-a1d3-554fd9a89b99(a)33g2000yqj.googlegroups.com... > Hi, > > I am thinking about buying or building a PIC programmer and would > appreciate some advice in choosing one. I've never laid hands on one > so am I not sure what to look for. > > I am a hobbyist and would like to program the occasional IC just to > simplify my circuit building. It would be nice to program a wide > variety if chips but in reality I would probably just pick a few that > I was comfortable with and stick to them. My programming skills > aren't all that great. I'm comfortable with editing VB script or > using graphical programs. If I have to I could probably learn basic > or c. The less code I have to write the better. I would like to keep > the price tag under $60. I've read that it's best to get one that can > be debugged in place so that would probably be good too. > > Anyone have any ideas which programmer might be best for someone like > me? > > TIA Get the Microchip ICD2. It will allow you to step thru code as a emulator would. Cheers
From: Rich Webb on 23 Feb 2010 18:40 On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:28:40 -0800 (PST), coldfeet <sixcoldfeet(a)gmail.com> wrote: >Hi, > >I am thinking about buying or building a PIC programmer and would >appreciate some advice in choosing one. I've never laid hands on one >so am I not sure what to look for. > >I am a hobbyist and would like to program the occasional IC just to >simplify my circuit building. It would be nice to program a wide >variety if chips but in reality I would probably just pick a few that >I was comfortable with and stick to them. My programming skills >aren't all that great. I'm comfortable with editing VB script or >using graphical programs. If I have to I could probably learn basic >or c. The less code I have to write the better. I would like to keep >the price tag under $60. I've read that it's best to get one that can >be debugged in place so that would probably be good too. > >Anyone have any ideas which programmer might be best for someone like >me? I'm assuming from the context here that by "PIC" you mean "any microcontroller" and not specifically the PIC-series of microcontrollers manufactured by Microchip. I'd recommend that you start out with one of the Arduino boards. The platform is open source both hardware and software, so the dev boards are cheap and the software is free. It's also aimed at beginners and so is pretty easy to get started with. Their home page is over at http://www.arduino.cc/. There are links there to many vendors that sell Arduino boards, compatibles, and expansion boards (called "shields" in their nomenclature). -- Rich Webb Norfolk, VA
From: Frank Buss on 23 Feb 2010 19:13
Martin Riddle wrote: > Get the Microchip ICD2. It will allow you to step thru code as a > emulator would. This is expensive and Microchip recommends ICD3. I think it has some nice features like real time debugging, but you'll need such features nearly never and then for bigger projects, only. Of course, when you need it for difficult problems, you really need it :-) Standard debugging with break points and single step is possible with PICkit2, too. -- Frank Buss, fb(a)frank-buss.de http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de |