It seems this works fine with two genuine Pickit3s but not with clones as these all have the same serial number. I have a genuine Pickit3 but a misconnect blew something. So I now have two clones. Does anyone know how to change the serial on these clones? Is it part of the firmware that can be reloaded? I notice on the genuine board a 6 pin connector for programming, also a 5 pin on the clones.
If anyone is interested, as a work around, I have done the following.
I run two different versions of MPLAB.X - 3.55 & 3.65.
I have the two Pickit3 connected to a hub with switches.
I can now quickly switch between the two projects by pushing two buttons and switching windows.
When I get time I will see if I can get the source code for the PK3 and see if it contains a serial number and try reprogramming one of my clones.
I can't test this but I bet it's how the driver loads the clone and gives the same serial number
new full-speed USB device number 16 using ohci-pci
[34079.000610] usb 2-9: New USB device found, idVendor=04d8, idProduct=900a
[34079.000617] usb 2-9: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[34079.000622] usb 2-9: Product: PICkit 3
[34079.000625] usb 2-9: Manufacturer: Microchip Technology Inc.
[34079.000628] usb 2-9: SerialNumber: BUR160608643
I always assumed the BUR serial # was part of the PK3 bootloader , and is fixed / protected. It is fairly hard to kill a PK3 , you could try to reflash the OS using a clone....
If you have a real pickit3 the ipe shows new ones but the clone they show up as the same one I looked on linux and they don't show the same as windows I plugged in 3 clones but i don't have 3 of the pickit3. But been playing with usb and I'm sure the driver file needs something changed on windows to make the clones work as you want Mike.
Thanks for trying to help but the only way to get two clones working appears to be that you have to change the serial numbers somehow. Setting a friendly name doesn't help as they both get the same name.
I tried this out last night. I still think it's in the driver but I can't find it for the pickit3 on a windows 10 box Ok i found out why it's hid USB driver for Pickit3 is HID (generic driver) Now maybe i find where there setting it to the same serial number.