Learning C for PIC's?

PIC your tool chain carefully . I loved mplab8 and C18, I currently very much dislike mplab x and XC8 which are there replacements. Not sure what IDE I would recommend, currently I am looking at others, there is a good chance I will head down the CCS route if there IDE supports pk3 and ICD3.

MPLABX w/ XC8 takes some getting used to. After you iron out the kinks and what not, it really is not as bad as it first seems.

When I first started using it (two days ago lol), I ran into all sorts of issues that I now have sorted out.

MPLAB X and XC8..... The interface itself is wonderful... There is sooo much you do... Shift click to open ANY routines header... Easy access to project properties.... Multiple projects.... A god send... But then the editor lets you down..
You can compile a file and get an error that cannot be found!!! Save and close the file, re-open it and viola it mysteriously compiles...
It also generates an odd number of bytes ( ISIS complains that it shouldn't be odd!!)
But as I've said... Its only XC8 so I don't mind too much!!

The editor is my main complaint, wish I could completely dumb down the X editor.

This is the (work in progress) X training page. https://microchip.wikidot.com/mplabx:start

Ok then I will try again!! at least now I have an idea where to start! yes I like the IDE so far, I think the C template is very good. but silly things like you say, having to close it down and restart it for no reason, is the kind of thing that shouldn't happen in a release version.
I also like Linux support, having used win8 at home and school, I have had enough of it, not so bad on a pc, but a laptop with the pad thingy its a nightmare! keeps swapping screens and finding stuff is hard.
Win7 32 bit was good, win7 64 bit bricked alot of usb stuff, XP was ace, Vista was....... used twice . I am getting dads old laptop, that is going to have some flavor of Linux on it.
DAD got through ok, the op took a lot longer than they planned, but he is fine.

Ian Rogers said:

You can compile a file and get an error that cannot be found!!! Save and close the file, re-open it and viola it mysteriously compiles...

Click to expand...

This is the problem I ran into and was beating my head against a wall trying to figure it out.

What about Windows Millennium Edition LG? You forgot about that one. HEHEHE

I reverted back to XP because of such problems. I had trouble with Win7 bricking me using LTspice. I couldn't add anything to the Library.

If you are having compatibility issues (depending on what version of Windows 7 you are using) you can run programs as Windows XP using the compatibility feature.

I think I've tried that one. I can't remember now it's been to long.

Zerotolerance said:

This is the problem I ran into and was beating my head against a wall trying to figure it out.

What about Windows Millennium Edition LG? You forgot about that one. HEHEHE

Click to expand...

Thats the year I was born!!! according to dad it was utter poo

Little Ghostman said:

Thats the year I was born!!! according to dad it was utter poo

Click to expand...

Yes, Complete GARBAGE!

compatibility on win 7 64 makes no difference with the pk3, what bricks them is the usb driver, the 64 bit driver causes alot of trouble

I have a PicKit 3 running on Windows 7 x64bit just fine

do you use 18f and 30F parts? thats where the problem is, when the pk3 has to switch its system and download the different AP's etc, sometimes dureing the transfer the usb will reset and that bricks the pk3, sometimes its enough to total the bootloader on the pk3 as well, if yo are just using one family then yes no problem, but try and debug 18f then try 30f straight after. Sometimes ok but many according to microchip themselves get bricked pk'3

My PICKit3 works fine on 64-bit W7. I can switch chips to, but I don't use PIC18.

MPLAB often has problems connecting to PICKit3, especially if I power target chip before plugging in PICKit3, but re-loading MPLAB and/or re-plugging PICKit3 always helps.

The problem is definitely switching from 18f to 30f, it has to do a download to change its firmware, switching back from 30f to18f is slightly better but can still give trouble, there are some posts on the MC forum, but most people now just put a ticket in, also there is a file that support posted in one thread, so if you actually brick the pk3 you can take it apart and connect to a small (very small) header inside to reload the boot loader, but get it wrong and its toast. however they will send you a new one. the problem dosnt happen on any other system, just win7 64 bit, and its only when you switch from 18f to 30f, it dosnt always hang, but so far I have bricked 3, 1 had to be replaced the other times I have managed to get a boot loader back on.
Win 8 seems ok, but just does annoying stuff like hang sometimes.
The reason I know about it, is because I was doing a 30f article and 18f project, in the end they gave me a ICD3 because it uses its own drivers. Also using xp in virtual machine on win7 64 bit works fine! actually it works best of all