What would you want in a PIC development board?

[mvs sarma]

Originally Posted by Arkham00

Bill, look at this for additional ideas (a CAN port?):

Freedom-II (pdf schematic)

appears as a blank page

[blueroomelectronics]

I like the idea of 40 pin support only.
Space for a ZIF would be worth the real estate.
Would using PORTD,E for LCD 4bit and a 4x4 keypad +11 LEDs be workable?

[Mike, K8LH]

Some suggestions;

(1) A piezo speaker is "a must".
(2) Consider using a small PIC as a serial/i2c 44780 LCD + Keypad + Speaker controller for the most "bang for the buck" on board space and host pins.
(3) Don't dedicate pins on PORTB for "ICSP only" use.

There are plenty of applications that need an entire 8-bit PORTB. Consider for example a little 1-inch high by 6-inch long matrix display using those tiny 0.7-inch 5x7 displays from BG Micro (below).

Regards, Mike

[Mike, K8LH]

While using a small PIC for a "serial backpack" type LCD controller would use a more 'standard' software interface it might not fit your "easy to obtain" criteria. How about using a 74HC164 instead for the 2-pin Predko interface? It uses a custom driver but it's cheap and it can be modded to drive half a keypad which would reduce host pin requirements.

More food for thought, Mike

[Mr RB]

I have a different view on those peripherals... The main thing I use a dev board for is to quickly develop things that will later be built as finished hardware to operate self-contained.

So the dev board needs to mimic the final hardware! If you use a 74164 etc to drive the LCD then all the finished hardware devices you build must also use a 74164 and all the extra wiring. I think it's so much better to have the LCD connected to 6 PIC pins on a common port (like PORTB) then all you need to do to make a finished app in hardware is copy the 6 wires that are used on the dev board.

That's also the reason you need a LED for every PIC pin, it doesn't matter what final hardware will be connected to that pin; like a solenoid, light, PWM motor etc, if the dev board has a LED for that pin you can still develop the app completely and you know it will work when built on the final app hardware later. Likewise one pushbutton for each pin.

But then my needs might be different from others, some people might just want like a pic "laboratory" where it is easy to code different demonstrations to learn how the PIC works, test ideas and have fun, rather than as a tool to be used to develop actual applications that will be built.

[Mike, K8LH]

Hi Roman,

The distinction between "laboratory" and "development" board is insightful and something I never thought of. That explains why an EasyPIC4 or EasyPIC5 board doesn't really look that exciting to me (except for the ability to plug in a 128x64 GLCD to play with).

Hopefully Bill will benefit from all our input.

Kind regards, Mike