Re: PIC/Linux
- From: Chris Jones <lugnut808@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:06:26 +0000
Allan Adler wrote:
Suppose I want to learn to use a PIC and only have a PC running RH7.1
Linux. In particular, I don't have a PIC development board. I hesitate to
get anything until I know exactly what I need and how much it will
ultimately cost. If you know exactly what I need to get to do this, and
what it will cost, please let me know. I assume I need:
(1) A PIC development board. Which one and what will it cost, given that
it has to talk to my PC running RH 7.1 Linux?
(2) Software, to talk to the PIC development board, that will run on my
PC running RH 7.1 Linux. What exactly do I get and from where?
(3) Reading materials that will give me certainty of learning to actually
use the PIC development board once I have the PIC development board
and the software running under RH 7.1 Linux. What exactly do I read
and what does it cost?
I am very easily thrown by little details that don't go right, since I
don't have time to devote myself completely to solving them. So, I need
for this
undertaking to be easy and without surprises. Advice such as "read any
book for dummies on PIC and make the necessary adjustments for Linux"
is likely to lead to failure in my case. Once I've done this once, it will
probably be a different story, but I need to suceed in a basic situation
and then build on it.
Also, I have very little discretionary capital; that's why I'm using an
old PC running RH 7.1 in the first place. So the more inexpensive the
solution, the better. (Please don't refer me to ebay, since I can't deal
with ebay.)
I would avoid buying a development kit. If you use e.g. a PIC16F84A, then I
have had success plugging those into a "solderless breadboard" (white
things, about two inches by six inches and quarter inch thick, that have an
array of little holes in them connected together in groups of five.) Just
make sure that you put a decoupling cap very close to the PIC, and keep the
wiring of the crystal oscillator absolutely as short as you can to minimise
capacitance.
To program it I used something based on this schematic:
ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/rstevew/PIC/DaveTait/pp.gif
I had to add some small resistors (1kOhm) in series with the data lines from
the printer port and small capacitors to ground (1nF) as a filter on these
lines because I was getting glitches due to coupling between the wires of
the printer cable, but if you use a very short cable then that may not be a
problem for you.
I can highly recommend the PIC C compiler from HiTech, of which there is a
free (but closed source) version for Linux, (though I only used the DOS one
many years ago):
http://www.hitech.com.au/downloads/demos.php
In the end I became a bit frustrated with the small amount of RAM on these
old PIC chips and I will one day have to get around to figuring out how to
use something with more memory (but hopefully not too many pins - I don't
want to have to make a PCB for very project I undertake.)
Chris
.
- References:
- PIC/Linux
- From: Allan Adler
- PIC/Linux
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