Firefly PCB (ZIF PIC Socket & 16F88 Tutor) First Look.

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Here's the first draft of the new Firefly PCB. It's the same size as the Inchworm ICD2 PCB.

Thanks to suggestions in these forums the schematic is complete, I'll be picking two winners of the free PCB in the next day or so.

I've added a 5V power jack and I just can't squeeze much more on the PCB.

 

[Ayne]

It is looking good.
It wil be single side or double side PCB???
Which software u r using for making PCB???

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Sprint layout
Double sided

 

[mramos1]

Two bad it is double sided, but that is a lot of parts on there.. No time this weekend to etch a board anyway.

I see you are going to do some Atmel stuff.. Nice chip. I really liked the mega8..

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Small addition to the schemaitc coming, I've got just enough space to add a 6pos dip and switch vr1 & 2 out of the circuit. Opens up more i/o for the user port. Also playing with a sharp range finder, neat device.

 

[mramos1]

Range finger for the board? Bot guys will want that. Or just a new toy

More on the user connector would be nice.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Well I finished hand routing the PCB (lots o work that).

If it checks out vs the schematic I'll start PCB production Monday

Here's the image.

**broken link removed**

 

[mramos1]

Well I finished hand routing the PCB (lots o work that).

If it checks out vs the schematic I'll start PCB production Monday

Looks nice Will.. Beyond a couple chip and single sided for sure, I am impressed.. BTW, have you heard from Mike K8LH? Do not think I have seen him posting. Will EMAIL him.

Off to post on a BASIC compiler that generates good MPLABS ASM. I have the inchworm and a simple 16F88 able to talk on breadboard (very happy; I had to learn the MPLABS a little better), and I wrote a MickoBASIC program, import the .HEX and can not debug worth beans, only run it.. Can not see the code and step..

So back to a BASIC compiler that will generate good MPLABS asm code I can bring in and quick build or assembler (I hear Nigel in the back of my head again; assembler-assembler).

My plan was to use ADC and a pot (A.1) and make a square wave out (B.1) based on the POT value.. Good firefly project.

A poor mans single function generator.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

PICBASIC Pro works with MPLAB, You're better of with ASM or even free C compilers. I still sort of like my old CVASM (Parallax) assembler.

Haven't heard from MikeK8LH either, hope he's ok.

PS use RB3 for your square wave, just enable the PWM easy as pie. The 16F88 has 8 clock speeds to play with.

Look for tips & tricks on Microchips app notes. Good stuff and a lot of it applies to the Firefly.

 

[mramos1]

PICBASIC Pro works with MPLAB, You're better of with ASM or even free C compilers. I still sort of like my old CVASM (Parallax) assembler.

I was thinking about C. For PCs it is a pain, but the microcontrollers it is just a high-level shell.. So that might be another option.

Haven't heard from MikeK8LH either, hope he's ok.

I saw him post tonight after I asked you.. Probably busy with work or electro-tech gets so broad he was off in another corner.

PS use RB3 for your square wave, just enable the PWM easy as pie. The 16F88 has 8 clock speeds to play with.

Look for tips & tricks on Microchips app notes. Good stuff and a lot of it applies to the Firefly.

I will look at the tips and tricks. I started with 31Khz to play, but MPLABS would not let me debug an import. Looks like ASM is the answer. I might look at C as well. At least I have for{} while{} delayms if{}else{}endif and will load in MPLABS.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

It's done, Fireflys artwork has been sent off to the PCB shop. Here's a doodle of Firefly (Done is Sketchup)

**broken link removed**

 

[kinjalgp]

Hi William,
Thats a nice piece of work in Sketchup. Can you explain how to make 3D PCBs in Sketchup?

 

[mramos1]

Bill, just share those models. hehehe..