anyone got or used pickit serial analyzer? or had a go at making one?

[large_ghostman]

hi i was wondering if anyone has any experiance of the pickit serial analyzer and if so what they thought of it? or better still has anyone had a go at making it?

 

[3v0]

All you have to do is flash the junebug with the serial analyzer firmware and you have one.

 

[hexreader]

I have Microchip PICkit serial analyser. I find it a great disappointment and don't use it.

It can only simulate one end of a communication link and does not do "sniffing" which was what I expecting an analyser to do.

If you have money to spare and plenty of patience, then it is harmless fun.

A logic analyser is a far more useful tool for analysing, as long as you buy a one with a high sample rate (maybe ten times the frequency you want to sample)

Just my opinion - maybe others love PKSA

EDIT: so can I program my PKSA as a Junebug and get some use out of it?

 

[3v0]

I do not know if the PKSA has the circuit to generate the high voltage needed for programming. You can give it a try but you need to open the case to reflash the internal PIC.

They may have used the same PCB.

 

[hexreader]

I do not know if the PKSA has the circuit to generate the high voltage needed for programming. You can give it a try but you need to open the case to reflash the internal PIC.

They may have used the same PCB.

Sorry 3v0, I am wasting your time. I should have put smiley faces against my edit. I haven't even bothered to find out from Google what a "junebug" is, but I suspect that I do not really want one And PKSA has no high voltage circuitry (but some clever low voltage interfacing).

Forgot to mention, that the demo board that comes with PKSA is quite cool, but even then, there is the down-side that it's PIC is programmed using some heavy assembly code.

All interesting though.

 

[large_ghostman]

All you have to do is flash the junebug with the serial analyzer firmware and you have one.

thats fantastic i will give it a try and when ive had enough i can flash it back to a junebug hexreader a junebug is a pikit2 clone with a dev board attached. i have access to a HP logic analyser but just wanted to find out more about the pikit serial analyzer as it sounded like a handy tool. i will have a play with the firmware and let you know what it turns out like :d do you have any tips mr 3v0?

 

[Diver300]

I use the PICkit2 serial analyser all the time, although mainly for receiving.

It seems to need the Vdd power turned on to work whatever, even though I often use it the Vdd not connected.

It could be improved. It doesn't go to high speeds, and the logging turns itself off if you go back to the programming page and open the serial analyser again.

 

[large_ghostman]

having thought about it for a bit i cant see how the june bug is compatiable as the serial analzer uses the spi and I2C pins that go to the connector??? so how do i get the june bug to function like the analyzer or have i misread the drawing??? sorry to ask so many questions
lg

 

[large_ghostman]

hmmm had a bit more thinking and am i right in thinking that to use the june bug as a serial analyzer you use the connector strip by the main chip??? if so do i have to add any etra hardware as i notice on the microchip drawing for the serial analyzer there mosfets etc?
many thanks logan

 

[3v0]

The pickit2/juneBug has a LA or logic tool that you can run from pickit2.exe.

The similar serial analyzer looks like the pk2 but is white and as mentioned earlier does not function as a LA.

What is it that you want to do ?

 

[large_ghostman]

i found the schematic of the serial analyzer and it looked useful so i just thought i would get opinions on it i have a couple of boards with spi and i am currently trying to get a ds1307 working so i thought if it wasnt too hard to build a serial analyzer i would have a go as it might be a handy tool to have and alot smaller than the logic analyzers we have the robot also uses spi for 3 chips so if the junebug can easily be converted/used with the serial analyzer firmware then it would be very useful

 

[hexreader]

To repeat what I said earlier, in case you missed it, PKSA will not "sniff" an existing serial link.

PKSA can act as a SPI master, but not as a SPI slave device, and it will not analyse what is happening on an existing link.

Takes a little effort to set up even then.


Changing the subject:

Depending on how fast your SPI link runs, the PICkit2 logic analyser may be too slow to show SPI link in operation. Maximum sample rate is 1 MHz, so it may only be effective for 100kHz SPI, maybe 200kHz. Guessing a bit here
....... but at least it can "sniff"

 

[large_ghostman]

hi hexreader ive been reading the user manual for the serial analyzer and ok i admit it dosnt sound so useful but would still be a great bit of kit to make i have access to 2 HP logic analyzers so sniffing isnt a problem i just think it would be a cool tool to make but i do agree its not as handy as they could of made it i like the pc side software tho

 

[ghostman11]

NO you CAN'T have one

 

[hexreader]

Since you are aware of the limitations, and you have an opportunity to make a PKSA cheaply, then go for it...

And yes, the demo software is cool. Do you have a PIC16F886 to make your own demo board? It is the demo board that I like much better than PKSA. It simulates three I2C devices all at once, ADC, RTC, EEPROM. Demo PIC software is in assembler though, which might put you off.

Good luck

 

[tunedwolf]

I have one, but after 10mins of playing with it I reckoned that the money would have been better spent on beer
For a commercial development tool, it leaves a lot to be desired. I don't think Microchip ever got round to fullfilling their promise to add a bus monitor feature either. All in all I would say it's a very disappointing piece of crap. YMMV