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newguy
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 1907
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| PCD - worth it? |
 Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:04 pm |
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I recently started a new job and the products we're producing use a rather finicky (to program) DSP. Programmers are hard to come by, expensive, and it's almost impossible to find one that supports the rather old DSP we use. We're still using parallel port programmers run on old computers that still have parallel ports.
I'm a very long time customer/user of the CCS compiler, but I still use v3.236 and don't have any v4.xxx releases of the compiler. For those of you who own the PCD compiler, how buggy is it at this point? What I'd like to do is port the existing firmware we have to a dsPIC using the PCD compiler. My faith in and knowledge of the CCS compiler and their ICD-U40 programmer, along with their low cost, is driving this for me.
The reason I ask is that there were a lot of complaints regarding PCD some time ago, but none lately. |
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jbmiller
Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 73
Location: Greensville,Ontario
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| Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:17 pm |
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While I only have PCM 4.0xx(started at 2.3xx), I can say that any product can have it's 'growing pains', but overall I'm a happy customer. Sure I don't use a lot of the features/functions that CCS provides but it sure does what I want. Just be sure to test, retest, test some more before saying the 'code is cut...all done'.
I also have to maintain some systems, 20+ years old that MUST have REAL comports(USB is NOT an option) so I can appreciate the pain of old DSP chips,heck I still have some 1708s around here! Hopefully, you can get into something newer fast or have a GOOD stock of old chips as some chips only 10 years old are hard to find.
good luck |
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asmallri
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Perth, Australia
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| Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 9:21 pm |
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I have large applications working well on PCH platforms and the Microchip C30 compiler that as yet I have been unsuccessful in porting to PCD. I have not yet tried the very latest release but hope to do so in the next month.
I actively develop using Microchips compilers but my preferred development platform is CCS
_________________
Regards, Andrew
http://www.brushelectronics.com/software
Home of Ethernet, SD card and Encrypted Serial Bootloaders for PICs!! |
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newguy
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 1907
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:10 am |
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Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and bought another years' worth of maintenance and the PCD upgrade along with a dsPIC development kit. Haven't had a chance to install it yet but I'll get to that tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands dirty with dsPICs. Much better than being sent on wild goose chases...I dare you to find a USB programmer that supports an obsolete processor (what I was tasked with doing this week).  |
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jbmiller
Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 73
Location: Greensville,Ontario
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:41 am |
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| I hear your pain about the Useless Serial Bus ! Newer is NOT better, I have to maintain 20+ year old systems where you MUST have Interrupts on the comports. Next to go are the Parallel ATA drives(IDE)...sigh.....I long for the good old dayze. |
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bkamen
Joined: 07 Jan 2004
Posts: 1615
Location: Central Illinois, USA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:13 am |
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| newguy wrote: | | Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and bought another years' worth of maintenance and the PCD upgrade along with a dsPIC development kit. Haven't had a chance to install it yet but I'll get to that tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands dirty with dsPICs. Much better than being sent on wild goose chases...I dare you to find a USB programmer that supports an obsolete processor (what I was tasked with doing this week). |
I think the ICD3 supports all the old MCHP lines.. (maybe excluing the 17C series)...
But yea - PCD is still going through pains.
I used/have used C18, C32 (like now) and they're ok.. but I also prefer CCS when possible.
I just finished a PIC24 project where I ran into a problem with some #fuses. Nothing I can't circumvent for now... they'll get it cleaned up in PCD eventually.
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Dazed and confused? I don't think so. Just "plain lost" will do. :D |
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newguy
Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Posts: 1907
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:43 pm |
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| jbmiller wrote: | | I hear your pain about the Useless Serial Bus ! Newer is NOT better, I have to maintain 20+ year old systems where you MUST have Interrupts on the comports. Next to go are the Parallel ATA drives(IDE)...sigh.....I long for the good old dayze. |
The good old dayze are the problem. We have to support units in the field (literally - it can be a field in the middle of nowhere). All of our programmers are driven by the parallel port. We've tried buying add-on parallel port expanders but they don't work with the 10-15+ year old programmer s/w. For now, we're stuck with lugging around very very old computers with true parallel ports.
I truly can't wait to begin the redesign of everything so we're not stuck trying to source obsolete processors, running obsolete programmers for the obsolete processors, all while using an obsolete PC. |
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LostInSpace
Joined: 09 Mar 2010
Posts: 13
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:27 pm |
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newguy - Oh man I feel your pain! The only good thing about the "churn" out here on the west coast is that no company lasts for more than 5 years anyway - so no worries on support!
Hang in there and keep management focused on the need for redesign.
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HTH - Steve H. |
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