Looking for Microcontroller Recommendations

RogerN · 2010-01-14T02:22:56+00:00

Years back I played some with PIC microcontrollers but I've heard that manufacturers are making better microcontrollers for less money.Not looking for professional ICE or anything but maybe something competitive with Microchips in circuit programmer/debugger. I was considering buying Microchips ICD3 with PICDEM 2 board for $230, but thought maybe something would be a better choice. I'm considering Atmels line but wanted some input on others worth checking into.Any recommendations on favorite microcontrollers that I can get up an running with for a reasonable amount of dollars?Thanks!RogerN

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Nico Coesel 16 years ago

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I doubt that. The PIC32 compiler is GCC, the compiler for the other PICs is Hi-tech. Porting code between them requires a lot of defines (think about types that include the bank number, interrupt service routines, pragma's, attributes, etc). And the architectural differences between PIC32 and previous PICs are too big to share code efficiently.

I tried to keep some code portable between ARM (gcc) and PIC16 but that is a no go. ARM and MIPS processors really like pointers with offsets. PIC16 does not. On ARM/MIPS it is more efficient to pass a pointer to a struct (part of an array of structs). However on PIC it is more efficient to provide an index into the array of structs. So keeping data as local as possible won't fly with PIC.

Well, the assembler I used didn't re-order the instructions.

Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------

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krw 16 years ago

You're a fool.

Bye.

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Spehro Pefhany 16 years ago

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Your doubts are misplaced. GCC is the basis of Microchip MPLAB C compilers for the PIC24 and PIC30/PIC33 (16-bit) architectures.

And Hitech (now owned by Microchip) has a PIC32 compiler, so you are free to go both ways, as it were.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

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RogerN 16 years ago

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I just received my PICKit3 Debug Express from Microchip direct. One of the primary interests over the PICKit3 alone was that it was supposed to come with MPLAB C18, it's listed under package contents. But I've looked all over the included CD and can't find it anywhere. Perhaps D*****ad didn't get fired after all! Now He's removing software from the included CD.

This is aggravating because I installed an earlier version of MPLab IDE hoping that it would install the MPLAB C18 compiler, it didn't. I'm very tempted to give up on PIC's. I recently bought the PIC32 starter kit, have to get a breakout board to connect to any of the I/O. I bought the PIC18F4XK20 starter kit that comes with a PICKit2, so far I like it better than the PICKit 3. I tried Debugging with the boards that each came with, PICKit2 worked, PICKit3 failed. It's frustrating that you have to hunt for what they claim is included in the package.

At this point I'm about ready to try AVR's with the free C compiler and perhaps an Arduino compiler. I don't mind being stumped on a project but not at the point that you have to register for 24/7 support just to ask them where on the CD is the software is located. So far tonight I've been at it for 4 hours and can't even find the "Package Contents", very poorly documented.

RogerN

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RogerN 16 years ago

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I'm glad I watched your video, because of that I bought the PIC18 starter kit that came with the PICKit 2. The PICKit 2 works great, but the PICKit 3 doesn't work, sometimes I get a Read to work but if I try to program or debug I get errors. I swap the PICKit 2, works fine, PICKit 3, power on, various errors depending on what you try to do.

RogerN

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