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Is Pickit 2 a good programmer?

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OY2L

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Do some of you have some experience the Pickit 2 Programmer, is it a good programmer?
 
Hi,
It is the best programmer I've ever used. You can do programming and debugging directly from MPLAB, or you can do programming from the PICkit2 software.
PICkit2 software supports wider range of PICs and other memory IC. It has UART tool as well as the logic analyzer.
 
Not only is it a programer but is also a ICD (In Circuit Debugger). I has software thet lets you hook it to the TX and RX pins and communitate with the PICs serial port/UART. It can also function as a 3 channel logic analyzer. You can also program some serial EEPROMS. (just like bananasiong said :) )

If you are into kits Bill at BlueroomElectronics (board member) has a PICkit2 clone called Junebug that does all the above and has a PIC18F1320 target with switches, LEDs, IR etc.

It is quite handy.
 
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I dont think you'll get a better programmer than the PicKit2 for the money.
Gets my vote. :D
 
Very good programmer, bit buggy on the debugger side but hopefully that will be fixed soon.

Mike.
 
I have a PicKit clone. It works great for programming and I can even use it for "remote" resetting thanks to VPP control.

I have to say though, for PIC18F chips the debugging isn't great, although that's probably MPLAB's fault.
 
It was quite a while since I last used it, but I think my main issue was firstly that I'd have to step through all of the "startup code" which I hadn't written, then when I finally got to the code I wanted to debug it wouldn't tell me the value of variables. I should mention that I was also using the C18 compiler. Maybe it works better in asm.
 
It was quite a while since I last used it, but I think my main issue was firstly that I'd have to step through all of the "startup code" which I hadn't written, then when I finally got to the code I wanted to debug it wouldn't tell me the value of variables. I should mention that I was also using the C18 compiler. Maybe it works better in asm.
For C programs, always use "Run To Cursor" to avoid that problem. Just put the cursor on the first "real" code line you want to look at and right-click the mouse. Select "Run To Cursor" and wait a bit. Works great! :D

I use it to skip past delay code and lots of other time-consuming things too. It's like a quicky on-the-fly breakpoint.

Oh ya! The PICkit 2 (and clones and Junebug) is a terrific programmer/debugger. I love it longtime! :D
 
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I use the ICD of pickit2/MPLAB and while it does work, there are lots of annoying quirks. It seems to get confused about breakpoints. I've had the PICkit2 go off into the weeks multiple times. Looking at the microchip forums, I'm not the only one. It seems to require a lot of fiddling to get it to work. Also, it works much better with the PIC18 series than PIC16 (more breakpoints, faster response).

On the MPLAB front: The C18 init stuff is pretty confusing to newbees though it's simple enough to just put a breakpoint on the code you are interested in and hit go. The way you look at variables is a bit confusing though once you figure it out it's pretty easy.

So, in short, I think it is a helluva deal but is just OK as a debugger.
 
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