16f628a Programmer
Looks nice, but I am looking for something I can make myself. I'm learning to make PCBs and read schematics. The JDM type I built I just can’t get to work right.
I can erase it but not write to it with icprog. I can’t get winpic to even initialize it. I went back over my schematics but everything looks right. I guess I just can’t work the programs. I’ve tried everything I may have overheated something during the solder process (My pen is a 40 watt) I may have to order something like the inchworm but I'll try another time or two and prove to myself I just cant do it first.
16f628a Programmer Settings
There are programmers that can be hand built, but they rely on using the parallel or usually serial port. I once made one and it worked, but I got a new computer and it no longer worked. The software for them usually only works for a limited range of PICs, and may stop working with a new version of Windows. I think it's not worth the trouble. Getting a PICKIT2 or PICKIT2 clone is a reliable option, and it's likely, but not guaranteed that the software will continue working with new versions of windows. They also work on Linux and MacOS with official software from Microchip.
PICKIT2 is open source, which explains why clones are available, but to make one you need a programmer for the PIC that it centres around. The clone that I've been using for the last 5 years cost around £12 and has worked perfectly.
This is the one I got, it's not a full clone in that it doesn't support in circuit debugging, and won't work with 3.3V PICs but I haven't needed those features yet. I got good experience with this: - Parallel - USB - USB The two on top has a free programming tool, you can download from their site. But you need to program and compile elsewhere. I did it in MPLAB. As long as you have a proper.hex file, the two on top program the chip easily. The PICKIT3 is programming using MPLAB.
The best (IMHO) development environment or the IDE, if you like, is MPLAB, but it has a steep learning curve. Now MPLAB X is under development, well they have released ver 1 something, and that is far more intuitive than MPLAB v8.xx, but it has a long way to go. In MPLAB you can choose your own compiler, and I think Hi tech C and Sourceboost are the most popular one.
To choose the right programmer for you, depends if you are going to do In Circuit Debugging. The Piccolo doesn't have that feature.
Nov 16, 2008 - edit. Turns out I may have been using the wrong resistor which explains why the original schematic wasn't working for me. Looks like I used 15k instead of 1.5k. So if your trying to use the JDM programmer, you can probably use the original schematic as is. 'm pretty excited as I just got a. And The Embedded Control Solutions Company are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. Analog-for-the-Digital Age, Application Maestro, CodeGuard. DsPICDEM, dsPICDEM.net, dsPICworks, ECAN. ECONOMONITOR, FanSense, FlexROM, fuzzyLAB. In-Circuit Serial Programming,. I was wondering if any of you had a verroboard layout for a programmer that can do the 16F628A. (preferably by rs232) I have already.
The others do. I would have to say starting off with anything but a or a is bad advice. The edge probably goes to the PICkit 3 as it supports more devices.
While I own three PICkit 2's my next purchase would be a PICkit 3 (if I ever get such as I also own an ICD 3 which handles everything). I would also encourage getting the whole development kit so you have known good hardware, software, and programmer (plus a debugger!) to start with. These kits have lessons in assembly and C or Basic to get you up to speed quickly. It was be especially discouraging as a beginner when nothing is working and you have no idea where the problem could be. By starting with known good items you can confine your troubleshooting list to the new code you have made. We're taking an investment of $50 to $70 USD to get something very good to work with along with a programmer you can use for years to come.
I would have to say starting off with anything but a or a is bad advice. The edge probably goes to the PICkit 3 as it supports more devices. While I own three PICkit 2's my next purchase would be a PICkit 3 (if I ever get such as I also own an ICD 3 which handles everything). I would also encourage getting the whole development kit so you have known good hardware, software, and programmer (plus a debugger!) to start with. These kits have lessons in assembly and C or Basic to get you up to speed quickly.
It was be especially discouraging as a beginner when nothing is working and you have no idea where the problem could be. By starting with known good items you can confine your troubleshooting list to the new code you have made. We're taking an investment of $50 to $70 USD to get something very good to work with along with a programmer you can use for years to come. Wow you don't want to know how many PIC programmers I have then. However as others have said you are really best off going for a full featured standard programmer like a PICkit2 or 3. I'm delighted you want to take that step to start PIC'n Bill, I know you have talked about it before so it's great to see you looking for an actual starting point.
I know this is not what you asked but maybe you could expand the discussion to include some more aspects, particularly what langauge and IDE. Personally I suggest you jump right in with a C compiler as I think this will be both easier and enable greater power and accessibility in your early projects. As an example a C program to flash a LED at 1Hz on PORTB bit0 might be as simple as this. As you can see the code is very accessible, where to do that came task in assembler is nowhere near as simple or as easy to write. Of course some understanding of assembler is nice, but starting in C means you can immediately access some serious math capability and that a great deal of other people's code can be copied direct into your code as C gives a great level of portability. Personally I use MikroE development boards like the EasyPIC7 (they have a programmer onboard) and they are enormously powerful and fast to bring projects to completion, with features like just 'plugging in' a text or graphics LCD and all their boards have a LED and button on every PIC pin, which is very valuable in development.
To me that way of working really beats using a 'programmer' and a breadboard, which is what I used to do about 14 years ago. Of course the MikroE dev board can also be used to program loose PICs so it essentially does whatever your PICkit2 or 3 does. Just be warned.
Being able to type a list of commands and have a very high speed chip carry out your exact commands to do any task you like is very addictive. I personally would just buy an off the shelf programmer such as the pickit 2 or 3, Microchip offers MPLAB for free, and you can use the student version of their C Compiler to learn C, although you are limited to a 64K program size, but it is still sufficient for beginners to learn from. When I first started with PICs I used th Pic16PRO kit , I used pads on my circuit for the ICSP connections and made this 'chip' clip programmer interface so I just need to clip it on the board and program away, no need to bulky headers or connectors.but that is now unsupported and no updates are being made for it unless you can find them on piclist.com. Hi Bill (and gang), I'm also happy to hear you're considering 'taking the plunge' into what may become a wonderful and exciting new adventure for you.
And while you'll probably share many of the problems and frustrations we've all experienced, those solutions learned 'the hard way' are never forgotten and frustrations are quickly replaced by pride in accomplishment. I use a PICKIT2 clone and it does most everything I need it to do with just a couple exceptions. For instance, the real PICKIT2, PICKIT3, and 100% compatible clones can program the 3.3v PIC devices where my PICKIT2 clone can only do 5v devices. Another consideration when trying to decide between purchasing a PICKIT2 or a PICKIT3, besides the price difference, it that Microchip is favoring the PICKIT3 over the PICKIT2 when it comes to supporting new devices.
For example, the MPLAB interface for PICKIT2 and PICKIT3 allows you to program many devices right from inside MPLAB but so far the PIC 16F1828, a relatively new device, cannot be programmed that way with a PICKIT2. I have to use the PICKIT2 stand-alone programmer application to program my 16F1828. The PICKIT3 however does support programming the 16F1828 from within MPLAB.
Anyway, with price tags of $23 and $30 (including shipping) for the reasonably high quality 100% compatible Sure PICKIT2 and PICKIT3 clones, respectively, it's hard to justify not spending the extra $7 for the PICKIT3 clone. If you're on a budget like me and you enjoy building stuff, then consider building a PICKIT2 clone. I would be happy to post you a programmed 18F2550. That, and another $10 or so in parts and you're in business.
More later, if I may, about your choice of programming languages. Cheerful regards, Mike. I tend to be a goal oriented person. My goal at the moment is not to learn the language, though it will happen eventually, but to be able to duplicate some of the projects, using the hex files, to be able to describe to people how to duplicate them for themselves.
Some of these project I am actively working on making PCBs for. Seems a lot of the work is drawing things like displays and PIC chips at the moment in PCB Express. I like the fact they include tutorials though. Other than a wider range of chippies they can program, what is the difference between a PIC2 and PIC3 programmer? They look pretty similar, and I am under the impression that they operate very similar to each other.
There is also a $20 price difference. I'll refrain from asking specifics until I have one in hand, as I figure it will be much more obvious with a working example and manuals. The PICKIT2 still programs a good range of chips, some of them you have to use the separate PICKIT2 application to program, but that's just a matter of switching to it and clicking program, instead of going to the menu item in MPlab. I find it a little bizarre, Microchip have a history of supporting older chips, etc, which explains why they keep adding chips to the PICKIT2 application. As far as I know, there is no reason they can't add those chips to MPLab as well, or just adding all chips to both programmers.
They both have upgradable firmware so I can't think of any reason not to, it's probably just adding a few lines to a data file. I'm currently running the Windows version of MPLab 8 using Wine on Linux, which works pretty well and Microchip have made a command line programmer called pk2cmd for the PICKIT2, I don't think there is anything like that available for the PICKIT3, although MPLAB X should support it on Linux when they finish rounding off the edges. The PICKIT2 also has a 4 channel logic analyser which is handy for people without one, it's not amazing but a nice feature. I would definitely recommend a real pickit or icd over a clone. My first experience was with a clone programmer, only worked 80% of the time, and was one that required the chip to be plugged into it.
So definitely something that can do ICSP, and if possible ICD. Chip wise, for learning and tutorials, it doesn't really matter too much, so long as it can do something like 16f84a, and I think something like 16f877 (think that has hardware usart), then the reader has learnt a lot, and should be comfortable to nost of the time work out the difference between bad coding, and bad hardware.