Your first microcontroller project is?

[mramos1]

Now I write longer Microchip programs in 100% assembler using the evil Parallax assembler.

So that is what Mike K8LH is talking about.

And BeeBop. I have never talked back to my PC (via serial port) or used an LCD display, I blink an LED too.. Nothing wrong with that. I blink it to count what I read on the LDR/Cap curcuit I did last month.. I even knod my head as I count the hundreds, tens and ones. With a pause to tell me when to break.

But I really want an ICD2 and to be able to debug on the PC connect to the target to be honest. bwhahaha..

 

[Mike - K8LH]

I could almost claim my EPG project (Electronic Program Guide) in '84 as my first (commercial) microcontroller project but it was really more a microcomputer than a microcontroller. It was the earliest version of the current TV Guide Channel complete with smooth scrolling TV listing data, locking time bars, and NTSC/RS-170 video overlay for Ads. Each EPG installed in a cable companies head-end would pull 24 hours of listing data and Ad data each day from one of the horizontal scan lines during the vertical blanking interval of the downlinked WGN signal. T'was a fun and rewarding project.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

mramos1,

You haven't enjoyed life to the fullest until you've bounced characters back and forth between your PC and PIC project (grin).

Haven't you tried a bootloader at all yet? I've got several different ones if you're interested. Take my 16F88 loader for example. I move a jumper, press reset, and get a prompt in hyperterminal from the PIC. Then I send it a hex file using the <send text file> menu item. Then I move the jumper back, press reset, and I'm running the newly downloaded program. NO PROGRAMMER (except when initially installing the 256-byte bootloader).

Mike

 

[mramos1]

OK, maybe a new tread with funnest/dumbest thing we have done with a microcontroller (with power applied to it of course)?

And Mike K8LH, that is impressive.

 

[BeeBop]

I really must agree:

You haven't enjoyed life to the fullest until you've bounced characters back and forth between your PC and PIC project (grin).

This is a good way to debug, too, but when you are really in trouble, simpler is better, thus the LED. I have only used a bootloader a few times (and most of those were with a Phillips LPC, rather than a PIC.) I think the reason is that the ICD2 is SO NICE! (I can see mramos1 turning green here.<grin>) I don't use the debug feature much, though. Perhaps I should play more with bootloading, though.
I think the dumbest thing I have done is power a PIC backwards. It got hot, but still works well!

 

[mramos1]

mramos1,

You haven't enjoyed life to the fullest until you've bounced characters back and forth between your PC and PIC project (grin).

Not for debug. But funny as people mention projects you recall others. I had pic in a closet parked in Miami with a serial connection to a Windows 95 machine (from like 199?) that I would telnet into the 95 machine via my telnet server I wrote and I could send a command on the serial port to the pic, and a [0 would drop a slolid state realy to power off a bunch of terminal server, [1 would bring them back up.. And it kept logs in EEPROM, that was a bit ago.
[r would dump the report, it counted power cycles too. And we thought the
Miami people were messing with our terminal servers (and they were).

So I have done serial.

Haven't you tried a bootloader at all yet? I've got several different ones if you're interested.

I nabbed the one you left for Blueroom in a thread For the ICD2

Sounds like it will save my bad knee. But how many pins are tied up. Jumper and serial?

Take my 16F88 loader for example. I move a jumper, press reset, and get a prompt in hyperterminal from the PIC. Then I send it a hex file using the <send text file> menu item. Then I move the jumper back, press reset, and I'm running the newly downloaded program. NO PROGRAMMER (except when initially installing the 256-byte bootloader).

I did that on the DS5000 Dallas 8051 chip with real time clock many years ago. I really want to downoad and debug that way via MPLABS.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

I nabbed the one you left for Blueroom in a thread For the ICD2

That's a different type of bootloader. Not exactly what I was talking about.

Sounds like it will save my bad knee. But how many pins are tied up. Jumper and serial?

It doesn't necessarily need to tie up any pins if you're using the serial port in your project already. Even if you're not using the serial port there's nothing to prevent you from using the serial port pins during bootloading and then using them for some other function during 'normal' operation (perhaps using jumpers or a 3.5mm stereo plug for the serial bootloading connection).

There are a couple ways to set up the bootloader 'trigger'. You can always use an existing switch on the project and simply press it when you press reset or power up to enter the bootloader. Don't press the switch when powering up or during reset to run your program the normal way. Another method I use for the bootloader 'trigger' is to install a jumper between the I/O pin and a piezo speaker. When I pull the jumper the piezo speaker is disconnected and I read a '1' on that pin. When I replace the jumper for normal speaker operation I read a '0' on that pin.

Regards, Mike

<added>

It's easy to add almost "zero cost" serial port capability to your project boards with nothing more than a 3-pin or 4-pin 0.1" Berg connector and a 2K7 resistor. Make it a little fancier by using a 3.5mm stereo jack. Check out the Simple RS232-to TTL Adapter topic. Send me an email if you'd like one of those little PC adapters. I have a few made up and gathering dust.

Here's a stepper motor board with serial port capability using nothing more than a 3.5mm stereo jack and 2K7 resistor (and that PC adapter).

 

[mramos1]

That's a different type of bootloader. Not exactly what I was talking about.

Yea, that was a bootloader for an ICD2 clone programmer.. I wanted that just to see if I wanted to build that one. It was not bad, but 2 pics, rather do Bills.

If you have a small bootloader for the target pic, I would like to look at it for sure and special mods the target board I would need. That would be great.

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Yeah, Bill's serial ICD2 design is great. I need a USB programmer for my laptop and the USB ICD2, unlike the Serial ICD2, will actually be quite usable as a debugger and I won't need a power brick for the USB-ICD2 or the target board. The '4550 and '877A in DIP40 and TQFP packages were samples so very little cost there. Layout for a through-hole design is progessing nicely on a 1.8" x 2.8" board.

**broken link removed**

Here's my 16F87/16F88 serial bootloader for your amusement. Org' your programs at h'0100' instead of h'0000' and your ISR code at h'0104' instead of h'0004'. There are several other bootloaders out there much better than this one.

Regards, Mike

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Each EPG installed in a cable companies head-end would pull 24 hours of listing data and Ad data each day from one of the horizontal scan lines during the vertical blanking interval of the downlinked WGN signal. T'was a fun and rewarding project.

Interesting!, presumably based on the UK teletext system?, which never seemed to gain acceptance in the USA for some reason?.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Interesting!, presumably based on the UK teletext system?, which never seemed to gain acceptance in the USA for some reason?.

Do you still have teletext in the UK? I saw it here in toronto in the early 90s' Love those chunky graphics and bold colours.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Do you still have teletext in the UK? I saw it here in toronto in the early 90s' Love those chunky graphics and bold colours.

Yes, but only on analogue terrestrial transmissions, the digital transmissions (both analogue and digital) include higher resolution 'digital' teletext.

Teletext was invented by the BBC and IBA, and started transmissions in the 1970's sometime? - I remember building a hardware teletext decoder (from a Wireless World kit) and installing it in a Bush TV set.

 

[mramos1]

When the TRS-80 Color computer (6809 Motoro chip) came out, I did a community page on a channel that scrolled pages for the landlord.. For my apartment complex in the 80's.. Used a channel master to drop that channel into the cable feed..

BUSH TV. God we are watching Nigel too.

 

[tinman10011001]

My first project was a switch to toggle a LED. My first money-making project was a door entry keypad. I spent about $130 on the project, and was paid $100. Some of the mistakes that I made were buying componets that were too tall for the enclosure; a ribbon cable that I broke the pins off by bending them too much. Lesson learned: Buy double of the critical componets that you may need.

 

[zkt_PiratesDen]

I really cant say untill I check the statute of limitations.

 

[atferrari]

Lesson part II

Buy double of the critical componets that you may need.

And charge more to avoid loosing...

 

[Pedro Martins]

I'm AKA audioPT

And this is my fisrt PIC project!
**broken link removed**
It's in Portuguese, but here I have some content in English:
My posts at diyhifi.com

 

[Mike - K8LH]

Pedro,

Very nice design. The version 2 pcb looks very nice too.

I have 5 PGA2310 samples just for a DIY preamp project. I also have LED Bar project code if you're interested.

Could I trouble you for the 12F683 source too as another Gentleman requested on the DIY Hi Fi Forum? My email address is Mike-K8LH.

Regards, Mike

 

[Scoobystu]

I'm still working on my first project....
3 minute delay using a 12f683. Struggling a bit. Thinking of offering a reward to the first person who can sort it for me!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I'm still working on my first project....
3 minute delay using a 12f683. Struggling a bit. Thinking of offering a reward to the first person who can sort it for me!

Check the delay code generator on the PICList - does this mean I get a reward?