EasyPIC4 Development Kit

[harrison_c]

Hi guys, thank you for giving me very valuable comments. Now, I am thinking to buy the EasyPIC4 Development Kit from Milkro.
http://www.mikroelektronika.co.yu/
And I already had the PCW Compiler Evaluation verison attached with the book, Embedded C Programming and the Microchip PIC. Then I can start my first example from the book?? Do I need any more thing to run the first program? Thank you.

Harrison

[PCM programmer]

I don't have this board and don't know anything about it, but since
nobody else has responded, I'll try to comment on it. This page
describes the board:
http://www.mikroe.com/en/tools/easypic4/

Does this board come with a "wall transformer" power supply ?
It has jack for it, but the web page doesn't say that you get the power
supply included with the board. It doesn't even offer one for sale
down at the bottom of the page.

Also, the board doesn't come with an LCD. You have to buy one
down at the bottom of the page.

The board has a built-in programmer circuit on it. It's operated by
a control program that runs on your PC, and the program communicates
with the on-board programmer by a USB cable. They give you the
control program. It's called PicFlash, and there's a screenshot of it on
the web page.

I don't know what version of the CCS compiler comes with your book.
Is it the full PCW IDE compiler, except that it only supports the 16F877A ?
If so, then the development cycle might be:
1. Create a program in PCW.
2. Compile it and create a HEX file.
3. Run the PicFlash program. Load the HEX file created by PCW.
4. Program the PIC on the EasyPic4 board with the PicFlash program.

I'm not sure how to run the program once it's programmed into the PIC.
With MPLAB and the ICD2, there's a button to release the "Reset" line
on the PIC, and then the program will start running. I don't see any
such button on the screenshot of the FlashPic program.

But anyway, somehow the program will start running. At that point
it may or may not run according to your expectations. So the question
is, how to debug it ? The EasyPic4 board has a built-in ICD debugger
on it. But apparently you have to buy one of their compilers in order
to get support for this built-in debugger. They offer Basic, Pascal, and
C compilers. The section on that web page called "Important to Know"
shows what you get with the purchase of the EasyPic4 board. It doesn't
say that you get a compiler included with it. I think you have to pay
extra for it.

I doubt that the CCS PCW program supports somebody else's
debugger. The whole point of the CCS IDE is that you buy everything
from CCS. So basically, with your proposed development system of
the limited PCW version that came with the book and the EasyPic4
board, you can't do hardware debugging. You're limited to using printf
statements to send information to the serial port, which you can view
on your PC with a terminal program. That certainly works, but for some
reason most newbies insist on having a hardware debugger. They all
want it.

The most important thing (I think) is the development cycle. It's best
if you know what it will be, before you buy the product. In other words,
is it easy to go through this series of steps ?:
1. Edit the program.
2. Compile the program.
3. Burn the HEX file into the PIC.
4. Reset the PIC and have it start running the code.
5. Optionally, do hardware debugging.

[Henrik]

Hi.

I have this board , and it is very high quality - if you decide to buy it you are going to make yourself a very happy man :-).

I will try to comment on "PCM Programmers" conciderations (from my own experiences with the board , off course).

I hope you will excuse if i'm making any grammatic or spelling errors as english is not my native tongue.

Regarding the power supply : It is not supplied with a "wall transformer" because it can get it's power from the USB-connection (and will be configured for that when you receive it). External power supply is an option if you wish (why would you , since programming is only possible via USB!).


Regarding the LCD - this is not enterily true , I bought mine as a "special offer" and it included both graphic LCD (128x64) and a 2x16 LCD + DS1820 temp. sensor (and a C-compiler with lots of libraries and PIC16 /18 support) all this for $326 , it's a bargain.

And even if you settle on the board and the loose peripherals - it's still a good deal , you won't get a board that's so versatile anywhere no matter the price. Drop any DIP-PIC in the EasyPIC4 board and you're off.

Using the PICFlash2 programmer software within the PCW IDE is not a problem , it works like a champ - all you have to do is : (example)
Choose "Options"->"Tools" ,
find a free line - in the name section , write PICFlash
Choose where you would like to find it in the PCW menu's (ie. Tools Menu) , use the browse option to find the location of the programmer software (ie. C:\PICFlash2). Add the following line : -w -f"%H" -v -p"%D"
and it will program the project hex file into the PIC and verify it afterwards. It will check if it is the right PIC before programming it (when possible) and if any differences is found between the PIC in the board and the one in the project it will ask you what to do.
After the programming is finished , it will run your program as it had received a MCLR-reset.

Regarding debugging , with PCW - unfortunately this is not possible (again it work's like a champ within the MikroC GUI) but maybe they will make a standalone debugging interface in the future.

Bottom line : this is a very good board in very high quality (at a good price) and it works pretty well with the CCS Compiler products (no in-circuit debugging though).

Kind regards Henrik

[Guest]