ICD2 Compatable + PCB layout

[mramos1]

I will order the 877A and pull the 661.hex for me then. I am assuming "A" is better in this case.. Well, if I have to pay for shipping, I will be adding Atmel Tiny13's and 12F509's on there too. So a 877 and 877A is no big deal. But plan on using the A.

Another thought, a hand wired version, maybe that somehow is messing something up at 20Mhz with the "A" chip, maybe stray noise, slew or something. Just a thought.

 

[mramos1]

William:

When will you have the Inchworm forsale (or the people that are selling them)? Do you know the price yet? Have they thought about a kit version?
People with the P16PRO40 and other Tait boards might be willing to pop for a kit just have have ICD.

I am looking at all those holes I have to drill and thinking Olimex at $99 is not bad, that is all the parts, assembled, programmed, solder by machine (not me) and tested.

As I get older, my eyes do not see so well, and I have a Dremel press too. I will get some bright lights and try a few.. Otherwise will mail this to you to get rid of your wired version. haha.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Thanks for the Info. I didn't know there was an 'A' version without OS. Where did you find this version? Did you modify the original bootloader yourself?

I downloaded it from EDABoard. I can't tell you exactly where. I'm sure you remember how long those particular threads got to be. But it's there and I found it and used it after having problems with that 661.hex file.

Regards, Mike

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Thanks Mike, the ICD2_Bootloader_A.hex works. Just gotta upload that OS the first time you use it.

Well I'll fix the silkscreening for the next batch.

Could have used a 16F876A but they cost about the same as the 16F877A

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Thanks Mike, the ICD2_Bootloader_A.hex works. Just gotta upload that OS the first time you use it.

Well I'll fix the silkscreening for the next batch.

I'm very happy to hear you got it working and I apologize for leaving out some important details (grin).

Could have used a 16F876A but they cost about the same as the 16F877A

Yeah, but they use much less board space (grin).

 

[Jay.slovak]

I downloaded it from EDABoard. I can't tell you exactly where. I'm sure you remember how long those particular threads got to be. But it's there and I found it and used it after having problems with that 661.hex file.

Regards, Mike

Yes, I remember.

Could you tell us, what problems did you encounter with 661.hex file? I thought 661.hex is a ICD2_Bootloader_A.hex with an old OS.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Mind if I post ICD2_Bootloader_A.hex?

 

[Mike - K8LH]

William:

When will you have the Inchworm forsale (or the people that are selling them)? Do you know the price yet? Have they thought about a kit version?
People with the P16PRO40 and other Tait boards might be willing to pop for a kit just have have ICD.

I am looking at all those holes I have to drill and thinking Olimex at $99 is not bad, that is all the parts, assembled, programmed, solder by machine (not me) and tested.

As I get older, my eyes do not see so well, and I have a Dremel press too. I will get some bright lights and try a few.. Otherwise will mail this to you to get rid of your wired version. haha.

Last year after I built my prototype Serial ICD2 Clone I found a Thailand manufacturer who agreed to sell me 5 of his blank Serial ICD2 boards for $11 each (landed cost) and I started a thread looking for three other people who would be interested in a blank board but I only got one positive response (so I didn't buy them).

I guess I was a year early (grin).

Mike

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Mind if I post ICD2_Bootloader_A.hex?

It's already been posted in one of the other threads. Perhaps we should just provide a link to it to save Electro-Tech disk space?

<added>

If you mean "post it on your web pages", then by all means, feel free to do so.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Yes, I remember.

Could you tell us, what problems did you encounter with 661.hex file? I thought 661.hex is a ICD2_Bootloader_A.hex with an old OS.

Sorry, I don't recall exactly. And it very well could be that I was "missing a step" too with that 661.hex file.

Mike

 

[Jay.slovak]

Sorry, I don't recall exactly. And it very well could be that I was "missing a step" too with that 661.hex file.

Mike

Never mind. Just curious.

And posting that link sounds like a great idea.

 

[mramos1]

Last year I found a Thailand manufacturer who agreed to sell me 5 of his blank Serial ICD2 boards for $11 each (landed cost) and I started a thread looking for three other people who would be interested in a board but I only got one positive response.

Have any left... hehehe.. Drilled... I just figure it will take me the weekend to drill them. And I see you have a smaller PIC on it too..

Did you keep and build the ones you have?

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Have any left... hehehe.. Drilled... I just figure it will take me the weekend to drill them. And I see you have a smaller PIC on it too..

Did you keep and build the ones you have?

I couldn't really find anyone interested at the time so I didn't buy them. I could afford a single board but not five (grin).

I don't think the manufacturer is selling them any longer. I recall he offered them assembled for $40 or so with a programming adapter board and I don't think he sold that many of them. I suspect we hobbyists are a very small bunch (grin) and there wasn't a big market for the programmer to make it worth his while.

Mike

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Here's what the Gentleman in Thailand is selling now days on his web site and on eBay.

It's still a Serial ICD2 clone but powered via USB. Cost is $40 plus shipping from Thailand and it includes both a 40-pin ZIF adapter board for standard PICs and another 40-pin ZIF adapter board for dsPIC devices. Not bad, but, I still need a USB ICD2 for my laptop.

Mike

**broken link removed**

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

It's a beautiful board, red soldermask is soooo cool. I used to love the blue Elektor PCBs.

I like the way Olimex solved the lower VPP for dsPIC & 18Fxxx. Should work for any fixed 13V programmer. (Mine is only 12.1 with 1N4148 diodes and I've programmed 18F4550s and 18F2525s fine. No complaints from MPLAB about the voltage.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Oh my goodness, that's not a very elegant fix at all Bill.

 

[mramos1]

I will look at micro4you.com tomorrow. $40 is not bad. Not sure how he does it for that price (2x 40 pins ZIF sockets in there too).. I have to see what shipping is from Thialand. Then I go, $70 from Tialand (or less and wait), $99 from Olimex (built and done), or drill Bill's board I have

I have a laptop. That would be cool if I was mobile, bored at the office, play with pics.

But with the Atmel STK500 (serial), home automation (serial), P16PRO40 (parallel), laser printer (parallel), etc.. Maybe USB is not a bad idea.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

I will look at micro4you.com tomorrow. $40 is not bad. Not sure how he does it for that price (2x 40 pins ZIF sockets in there too).. I have to see what shipping is from Thialand. Then I go, $70 from Tialand (or less and wait), $99 from Olimex (built and done), or drill Bill's board I have

I have a laptop. That would be cool if I was mobile, bored at the office, play with pics.

But with the Atmel STK500 (serial), home automation (serial), P16PRO40 (parallel), laser printer (parallel), etc.. Maybe USB is not a bad idea.

I'm very envious of your capability to produce one off single sided boards so I hope you find the motivation to drill the holes and start assembling Bill's board.

Also, keep in mind that the micros4u board is NOT a USB programmer. It's a serial port programmer that gets it's power from a USB port. It seems kinda' silly to me. I'd just as soon have a USB programmer if I've got to plug into a USB port (grin).

Regards, Mike

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Bill,

Sorry if I'm goin' off-topic again but I thought you might be interested in a neat layout I just stumbled upon for a USB-ICD2 clone from a chap in Hong Kong. It really looks like a decent layout for through-hole components and it includes the 74HCT125 buffers which will allow 3.3v target operation for dsPIC and PIC24 devices. I may change my USB-ICD2 layout to look a little more like this one.

BTW, I emailed this chap to ask if he'd sell me blank printed circuit boards and I'll let you know what he says.

Mike

**broken link removed**

 

[mramos1]

I'm very envious of your capability to produce one off single sided boards so I hope you find the motivation to drill the holes and start assembling Bill's board.

Yea, I will drill, I was just all of a sudden in a hurry to have one.. But will start tonight. I have new bits in the mail today as well, mine is dull.

Also, keep in mind that the micros4u board is NOT a USB programmer. It's a serial port programmer that gets it's power from a USB port. It seems kinda' silly to me. I'd just as soon have a USB programmer if I've got to plug into a USB port (grin).

They have a USB unit for $23 or $29. But no ICD. Yea, they just dropped the wallwart. I have 4 on my bench, so that is not a bad thing for me.

I will drill tonight and try to get it finished, then start getting parts. I get that far. I will order the PICs There are a lot of wholes I can skip and but the pins on the socket. That will help.

And let me know what the fellow says on the USB-ICD2 clone for sure.