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New toy!

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I know, they impressed me when I found them, and I've now moved totally to the enhanced mid-range series - higher spec, easier to use, more facilities, and a considerably lower price :D

I also find internal oscillators VERY useful, they are mostly more than accurate enough, and gives you more I/O and more board space.

Hi Nigel,

If i can figure out how to program that chip with the PicKit 1 (yeah that's a 1, not a 2 or 3 ha ha) i might give that chip a try. I never got around to getting the PicKit2 or 3.

I too have used mostly the internal oscillators. Pretty accurate. In fact, i did serial communications with the standard PC home computer and no problems on the transfers. Supposedly that's not a good thing to do as a crystal is called for to keep the sync accurate (some spec like 1 percent or something), but using the internal oscillator has always worked for me. It could be because i use most of these within a narrow temperature range (room temperature maybe 65 to 90 degree F range) and i dont need to take it outside (yet) where the temperature would range from probably -20 to 120 F.
 
They are the serial ones... According to the news.... People are dropping contraband into prisons using quadcopters and a smartphone... Like I said... You can do tons with them

Hi Ian,

It's funny how resourceful some people are :)

I checked on the Pinguino a little bit. It looks like they are sold in the Netherlands. It also looks like everything they offer now is in kit form, so the board that looked good to me has to be assembled. Not too much to it though (that one with the board just a tiny bit bigger than the chip).
I think this is a great idea, but i would like to see a wider chip type support. For example, the little 12F675 which i've used over and over again.

What i have been using since i first started with these chips is either ASM or a language i had made up myself to help program chips like that. The language is similar to C almost like the Arduino, but keep low level enough to allow the user (me) to easily keep track of the way the machine (the PIC chip) is handling the instructions (such as clock cycles), and above all, not waste any machine cycles (for example the Arduino digitalWrite function takes many instructions cycles just to set or reset one chip pin).

What i didnt realize until reading about the Pinguino and the history of the Arduino was that this language might be attractive to other PIC users, and of course it is always expandable.
I am going to have to give this some more thought. If someone could pick up a PIC chip and start programming in minutes (like with the Arduino) instead of hours i think they would like using PIC more.
One thing the Arduino IDE has though is a lot of support files for various common tasks, like driving an LED display, LCD display, etc., as well as a lot of support hardware (Shields). It would take some time to get that far with it.
Probably require a team of dedicated PIC users hint hint :)

You know what would be really nice, if the Arduino IDE could be used to program PIC chips. All that would be required (for basic operation that is) is to use a different set of files for the different devices i think.
 
I have quite a vast library now... I can do a lot of functions.

LCD alpha, LCD Graphic mono, LCD Graphic colour, Touch screen, Motors ( servo's Steppers, PWM HBridge control), sensors like compasses, accelerometers , Gyro's

To name but a few.... I really need to make my libraries generic.... At the moment I use constants to control devices ie.. certain ports, so the libraries are not really portable..

If anyone posts a requirement here, I tend to post the code to suit!!
 
I have quite a vast library now... I can do a lot of functions.

LCD alpha, LCD Graphic mono, LCD Graphic colour, Touch screen, Motors ( servo's Steppers, PWM HBridge control), sensors like compasses, accelerometers , Gyro's

To name but a few.... I really need to make my libraries generic.... At the moment I use constants to control devices ie.. certain ports, so the libraries are not really portable..

If anyone posts a requirement here, I tend to post the code to suit!!

Hi,

Sounds pretty good really. Once you have the libs you're pretty much set then. If you wanted to share then you could just specify which constants had to be changed perhaps, and let the user do the rest.

Ok, so how about all those functions, for say 20 different low to mid range PICs? (just kidding here :) )

Really, how about a USB keyboard driver? This could be without an actual USB connection, which would then just require a USB to serial converter chip. This would allow the uC to input to a Tablet or PC computer where the keyboard normally goes.
So it would be a serial keyboard, and once the USB to RS232 chip is added it becomes ideally a USB keyboard, only under control from the uC rather than an actual physical 101 key keyboard.
I have considered the Leonardo which has a library for that, but i'd have to get one first. I have many PIC chips already, and several types of Atmel chips like the 328P and Tiny85. Would be nice to use some of this stuff without having to add to the pile, and PIC would be great.
Since it will just be an RS232 communication i would think that a low end PIC like the 12F675 could handle that (TTL level RS232 would be fine).
I've done several RS232 projects but never a keyboard driver like this.
 
Really, how about a USB keyboard driver?
If you took a look at the Microchip Library Collection all these functions are done...

I use MikroC for the Pic32 so I don't need to worry on that score.... I just add it to my build..
 
If you took a look at the Microchip Library Collection all these functions are done...

I use MikroC for the Pic32 so I don't need to worry on that score.... I just add it to my build..

Hi,

Ok thanks, i havent visited that site in a long time now. I should have thought to look.
If i find it that's good, but i'll get back here if there's a problem.
As a side note, happy to see that Shift Register thread close (har har). I think some just need to learn better English, or else get someone to help them with the reply.

Tony:
Use a lot of PIC's yourself ?
 
No keyboard device found on MC site.
 
MLA... Microchip Libraries for Applications....

**broken link removed**

Be warned.... Its VERY big!! I think you can specify what you need...

Here's a screenshot of the USB directory
upload_2015-9-21_19-26-38.jpeg
 
Hi Ian,

I am not sure what i am looking at here. I see a view of your computer directories.
You mean you have to download the entire MLA to find what you want?
And if so, is that an install .exe file?
 
Hi Ian,

I am not sure what i am looking at here. I see a view of your computer directories.
You mean you have to download the entire MLA to find what you want?
And if so, is that an install .exe file?
I wanted it all... Its a massive file... you instal it!! I think its a executable zip!!
 
Hi Ian,

Thanks. Any chance you can take a quick look under USB/Device-HID-Keyboard
to see what chip(s) it uses, and i guess that is a keyboard emulator of sorts?
 
Hi Ian,

Thanks. I can take a look at those chips and see if my programmer can handle them. I dont think it can though as it is very limited unfortunately. It's just the PicKit 1. I almost couldnt even program a low end 20 pin device before fooling the IDE into thinking it had another chip out there on the prgramming board :)
 
Ouch!!... I think only the pickit 3 supports the newer USB 16's.... I certainly don't use the pickit 2 for newer devices!!!

What does PIR mean?
Do you mean PIM... I can't find your reference to PIR

PIM = Plug in module... Boards like the Explorer have a PIM socket so you can use most processors..
 
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