Snap with no crackle or pop

[granddad]

Having joined the Microchip PIC tribe , around the 1990's I have resisted flirting with other mcu silicon.. so I was pleased to see MC offer a low cost debugger / programmer . “SNAP” , as I presume PK3 device support may end soon ? (IDC /PK 4 are way beyond my budget) so I ordered one. Snap worked straight out of the box with MPLAB X 5.15 and it found and programmed my current device PIC24FJ512GA606 somewhat quicker than the PK3 previously did. However I have yet to find the PIC devices list it supports. Any ETOers had any difficulties with this debugger , I see some posts on the LVP constraints ( Snap seems to get quite warm ? ).
Ed.. I Have located the list of SNAP supported devices ,in MPLABX 'release notes' [help]. (3032 devices ! )

 

[granddad]

Up date... Flushed with my SNAP success, I "Updated" MPLABX from 5.15 to 5.40 , and added the XC16 v1.50 .. ( running linuxmint 19.3 ) ..... BIG mistake. !! the whole 'new' setup was so buggy, false errors (red squiggles ) freezing, missing tools , stopped building . restarts , no scource code .etc.... , lost connection with tool, in fact all the old MPLABX bugs .. and forever complaining about my code ! ( probably correct ) .. so I reverted back to the previous versions , but keeping Snap , one change that seems to be a improvement !!

edit I had to twist Snap's arm to go back to the old version 5.15

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Thanks for the heads up on MPLABX 5.40, granddad... I'll stick with version 5.30 for now.

I puchased a SNAP during a promotion awhile back but haven't used it yet. Also just saved up my pennies to buy a PICKIT 4 to allow programming some newer devices like the 18F27Q43... Seems a never ending cycle of upgrading in order to be able to program newer chips...

 

[avrPic]

Snap recently increased in price up to 25 bucks!!

 

[granddad]

Wonder if UK will follow ? 21 June it is from Farnell in UK 12 GBP ( plus handling 4) 16GBP = 25 bucks ? usually we have to pay GBP = bucks

https://uk.farnell.com/microchip/pg164100/snap-in-ckt-debugger-mcu/dp/2915518

 

[avrPic]

Wonder if UK will follow ? 21 June it is from Farnell in UK 12 GBP ( plus handling 4) 16GBP = 25 bucks ? usually we have to pay GBP = bucks

https://uk.farnell.com/microchip/pg164100/snap-in-ckt-debugger-mcu/dp/2915518

That price converts to 15.41 not including shipping United States Dollar which is about what they were in the USA a few short weeks ago. Microchip and USA distributors are all at 24.95 US at the moment. Yes at some point I would think they would increase

 

[gophert]

Thanks granddad. I got my SNAP last year during their promotion and have not used it yet. I think i got it essentially free with a coupon and enough other parts to get free shipping.

 

[granddad]

I would assume it makes sense , marketing wise, for MC to have a economic (cheap) debug / programmer available for PIC hobbyists / makers, ( must be thousands ? ) as they originally have done with PK2 and PK3 ( was there a PK1 ? ) I started with a PIC16F84 and built a 'David Tait' programmer, on vero (Parallel port, it needed +5 and +12v ) I think my first PK2 was bundled with a cheap PIC16F dev board as with PK3 some years later. Snap joins my my collection of 2xPK2 and 3xPK3. ( I am often coding two devices at the same time ) I would recommend the MPLABX 5.15, Snap, linux.mint 19.3 combo as the fastest and so far, in my experience 'stable' platform . Snap even uploads new device software without the PK3 connection issues !

 

[Mickster]

( was there a PK1 ? )

Yes, there was:
**broken link removed**

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I started with a PIC16F84 and built a 'David Tait' programmer

A late comer then?, what was wrong with the 16C84?

I used to talk to David Tait on 2m via the GB3HH relay, as he worked at Manchester University - he had a Trio/Kenwood 2200 portable, and by placing it in one corner of his lab, on top of two stools, he could just work the relay.

My original version of PicProg was loosely based on David's original BASIC software example, except I used Turbo Pascal. Incidentally, he was a programmer, and not an electronics engineer, hence the relatively poor design of the original hardware (using 4066 CMOS switches to switch Vpp and Vdd) - and it didn't take long before people brought out improved versions using simple transistors to do the switching.

As the younger members here perhaps don't know?, David Tait is considered the 'father of PIC programmers' and is probably the single person most responsible for the PIC's popularity with electronics enthusiasts.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

I'm a late comer, too. I think I used Bob Blick's version of David Tait's parallel port programmer design. Later I used that parallel port programmer to program a PIC for use in a serial port programmer. After several iterations of the serial port programmer, I finally bought a PICKIT 2, then a PICKIT 3 as well as a very nice PICKIT 3 clone. Earlier this week I received a PICKIT 4.

I'm encouraged by the more recent LVP (Low Voltage Programming) method on newer PIC devices which allows programming by something as simple as a $3 Arduino clone (or ESP32, or STM32, or Raspberry Pi, etc.), as long as you don't mind keeping the MCLR pin function...

Cheerful regards, Mike

 

[upand_at_them]

David Tait is considered the 'father of PIC programmers' and is probably the single person most responsible for the PIC's popularity with electronics enthusiasts.

And blame Microchip for not giving us a free C compiler and thereby making the Arduino actually way more popular.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

And blame Microchip for not giving us a free C compiler and thereby making the Arduino actually way more popular.

Gosh, I wonder if you may be over-simplifying? Arduino, Hernando Barragán's Wiring, and indeed Processing (MIT) could have targeted PIC microprocessors, but, let's face it, it took forever for Microchip to come up with a 64-MHz PIC that would match the performance of 16-MHz Atmel devices.

Now days you can have an Arduino 'core' for just about any microcontroller and there are libraries for just about any device. While I rant about lack of features in the Arduino IDE and reliance on bloated libraries, I admit that I use Arduinos to quickly throw together programs to test batches of OLED displays and other modules when I receive them from China. Then I study the devices and write my own drivers for both Arduino boards and for PICs.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Gosh, I wonder if you may be over-simplifying? Arduino, Hernando Barragán's Wiring, and indeed Processing (MIT) could have targeted PIC microprocessors, but, let's face it, it took forever for Microchip to come up with a 64-MHz PIC that would match the performance of 16-MHz Atmel devices.

The original Arduino was supposed to be PIC based, but when they approached MicroChip about a free C++ compiler, they declined - so they moved the Arduino idea to Atmel processors instead, who would provide a free compiler. I presume that's what he's referring to?.

However, it didn't help Atmel much, as MicroChip gobbled them up anyway.

Now days you can have an Arduino 'core' for just about any microcontroller and there are libraries for just about any device. While I rant about lack of features in the Arduino IDE and reliance on bloated libraries, I admit that I use Arduinos to quickly throw together programs to test batches of OLED displays and other modules when I receive them from China. Then I study the devices and write my own drivers for both Arduino boards and for PICs.

I'm very similar, but generally only re-write them for PIC's - it's easier to do that than start from the datasheet, and why reinvent the wheel?.

 

[granddad]

Update... Snap gets quite warm after a couple of hours , no wonder it is not in a case ! , also it does not like being touched while working either, all kind of red MPLABX messages ! Snap measured at 165 mA from USB. in comparison to PK3 at 7mA !