Quote: Originally Posted by KyleYankan
Hello everyone. I thought I posted this but for some reason I can't find it!
I had a few questions about programming a PIC so I figure a new topic would be best in case anyone is searching for it.
OK, here's my questions:
I don't have alot of money. A homemade programmer is defintly the way to go, for a while with me. Can anyone recomend an easy to build circuit?
Here's a few random questions too:
What's an ICD2? What's EEPROM? Do I need either or? I beleive PICs have built in EEPROM, so why do some programming boards offer it?
What exactly is needed to program a PIC? I want to go the parallel port way, because my serial ports are being used.
One last question: How easy/hard is it to transfer serial data between a pic, and other hardware?
Ok. I'd just buy a PGC1 or
PGC2. probably cheaper then making your own. $12-13 dollars + shipping. They work with most computers. Some have a cheap rs232 driver that doesn't provide actually 12 volt swings though so on some pcs it won't work. I own both and they work fine.
ICD2 is In-Circuit-Debugger. I haven't used it yet, but it gives you a real time look into the chip IIRC when running.
Pics don't have much eeprom, for instance most pic16x have 128 bytes! You'd normally use this for persistant info. Like volume/level or whatnot.
You need a c compiler that can target it. I think GCC does now, but I normally use Hi-Tech C when using C code. The free version works well but has some restrictions. If you want to use it, make sure you buy a PIC the free version targets.
Serial is pretty easy. I normally use a MAX232 but there are cheaper methods. I don't recall them, cause I never actually used them. If you can spare 20 bucks, get an
Olimex proto board (18 or 40 pin). You get the board, PIC, MAX232 wired with caps, 4 or 20MHZ crystal and ICSP (In circuit serial programming header) and RS232 connector. All you need to do is plug it in and your almost done. You will need to wire RX/TX to the MAX232 though.
Hope this helps.
Linear Mode
