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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Beta Testers Wanted
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Geoffg Guru  Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3167 |
That would not work, 16K RAM is way too small. Also, it took a lot of work getting MMBasic on the PIC32150/250 so there would have to be a VERY good reason why I would want to do it again for another chip. Sorry, no. There is just not enough flash memory. Also, an SD card would use up 4 to 6 I/O pins which is a lot in a device that only had 19 to start with. The MicroMite is intended to be an easily programmable chip, not a computer, so I never planned to put in computer features like mass storage. The same argument also applies to requests for video, USB, Ethernet, etc. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9082 |
Makes perfect sense to me. 
It is important not to confuse micro-computer with micro-controller... Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9082 |
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| cwilt Senior Member  Joined: 20/03/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 147 |
Thats what I expected but I had to ask. Thanks for all your hard work and effort. |
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vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
I bricked that one with Pickit2 programmer so anyone, be aware! Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
If you already have an AVR ISP programmer, the best alternative regarding to BASIC is mikroBasic, followed by BASCOM. The new Oshonsoft Basic is underway, but not so soon. Anyway, if you want an embedded BASIC interpreter, there are a couple of solutions (none worth the effort  ):
- dk-basic - KLBasic - in that page you will read also about an Arduino Basic interpreter Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3678 |
Bricked? Any idea what went wrong? John |
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| vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
Don't know, everything was connected right, the firmware is ok... and I saw also someone on Pinguino forums having the same problem... I tried to burn inside a serial bootloader of only 3Kb as HID bootloader occupy 16Kb of flash if I remember right. Then I tried to burn a "blink a LED" example and that also didn't work. I left it for another time. The PIC is recognized correctly, the burning and verification processes are reported as being a success. BTW, that board is incorrectly compared with Arduino. They say the board is on par regarding to FLASH memory, but that is not true. That means 4 times less FLASH memory than Arduino. But I should discuss this in another thread, sorry! Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
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| viscomjim Guru Joined: 08/01/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 925 |
Hi All, New to the forum. I have received the beta firmware and manual for micromite and will be playing soon. I have a question regarding the hardware uarts. Can the console pins be moved to a software uart allowing the two high speed hardware uarts to be used for other things? I need access to both and need to do better than 19200. Also, can there be 2 software uarts AND be able to use the hardware uarts, so in essence 4 uarts, 2 at 19200 and two higher speed? Thanks Jim |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3678 |
Well the original Pinguino32 has 268K (256+12) flash as well as 32K RAM so that looks more than Arduino. I'd guess someone is reading the original description as applying to a later board that's smaller and cheaper. There's only one way I know to damage a correctly designed PIC32 during programming that way and there's a Microchip note of how to avoid it. I expect a myriad of other ways exist if you're creative, though! Geoff may well know some others... John |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5923 |
You can probably use the Console as a serial port without any changes. It's baud rate can be set to the same speeds as COM1. Jim VK7JH MMedit MMBasic Help |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3167 |
The console needs to be on a hardware UART so that it can run at a reasonable speed, even with the CPU at 5MHz. As the PIC32MX150/250 has only two UARTS that leaves one for other duties. I restricted the MicroMite to one software UART for performance reasons. When the dust settles it might be possible to implement a second but I would need to do a lot of performance testing first. Also, there are only a few hundred bytes of flash free and I was hoping to reserve that space for bug fixes rather than new features. Once you have debugged your program you can use the console as a third high speed serial interface. That would have some difficulties but it is an option. Another option would be to use a second MicroMite and communicate with it via I2C. The second chip could act as a serial comms hub with three UARTS (including the console). Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9082 |
Can you clarify that a little? First paragraph says using the console pins as a serial port is do-able, but with difficulty, but second paragraph mentions the same console pins, but suggests it is easy. Just a little confused.... From reading the manual, I seem to remember it saying that once you have finished writing your program(or xmodeming it - whatever), if you don't need the console anymore, you can use it as a serial port - fine. So where is the "Difficulty" in that?  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3167 |
The only difficulty is that you need to be sure that your program is bug free because if it stops with an error the error message will be sent out on the console Tx line and the MicroMite will then wait for input on the Rx line. Depending on your application that might or might not be an issue. For example, if you were using the console to get data from a GPS module and an error occurred the module would ignore the the error message because it was not a properly formatted message. MMBasic would then get GPS data on the console input which would cause more error messages but, if the watchdog timer was set, MMBasic would reboot anyway and your program would be running again. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9082 |
Okey dokey, I see. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| hitsware Guru Joined: 23/11/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 535 |
2 channels (pins) with independent frequency as well as duty-cycle ? |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9082 |
Yes, that is my interpretation. Pins 24 and 26. [quote] The PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) command allows the MicroMiteto generate square waves with a program controlled duty cycle. By varying the duty cycle you can generate a program controlled voltage output for use in controlling external devices that require an analog input (power supplies, motor controllers, etc). The PWM outputs are also useful for driving servos and for generating a sound output via a small transducer. Two PWM outputs are available (pins 24 and 26) and the frequency of eachcan be independently set from 20Hz to 500KHz. The duty cycle for each output can also be independently set from between 0% and 100% with a 0.1% resolution when the frequency is below 25KHz (above 25KHz the resolution is 1% or better up to 250KHz). When the MicroMite is powered up or the PWM OFF command is used the PWM outputs will be set to high impedance (they are neither off nor on). So, if you want the PWM output to be low by default (zero power in most applications) you should use a resistor to pull the output to ground when it is set to high impedance. Similarly, if you want the default to be high (full power) you should connect the resistor to 3.3V. [/quote] Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
Rather than use a PICkit 3 I decided to use the Microstick II module. It has a PICkit 3 programmer built in (called the PKOB or PICKIT On Board). It also comes with a PIC32MX250 and USB cable for $34.95. The board even brings out the USART pins to the end of the board but unfortunately they are the COM2 pins not the COM1 Geoff picked for the programming communication. Microstick II at MicrochipDirect.com 
I loaded the .hex file, that Geoff supplied, into MPLAB X and programmed it into the board without issue. I just had to select the PKOB programmer. Next I found my Sparkfun USB converter module and hooked it up to the board through a breadboard. The Microstick gets its power from the USB programming cable so I left it hooked up to my laptop. I connected the USB adapter to a second USB port and launched Tera Term. 
The > prompt showed up. The Microstick II has an LED connected to pin 2 so I wrote a short program to flash the LED. The Editor worked great within Tera Term. The program ran perfectly. So I had success 1st try. Great job Geoff. In searching for my Sparkfun USB convertor I found a couple of old boards I designed and never finished. I was planning to make some breadboard versions of the Amicus 18 module but ran into issues with the way they did the FTDI programming. I could never get it to communicate with the Amicus software successfully. But this design would work great for MicroMite. 
The FTDI chip is on the bottom and the 28 pin PIC32 can go on top. Then I can just program from the USB connector. The layout will have to change to match the PIC32 but some of the work is already done. www.elproducts.com |
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| elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
Thanks for asking Mick. Back in May 2013, I ended the CHIPS newsletter and replaced it with my blog. I put that in the final CHIPS newsletter but I did get some bounces in email. Maybe one was yours. Anyway, the blog is at my improved website: elproducts.com I launched the site and blog to address complaints from some people that my website was just focused on marketing my books and not enough helpful info. So I created this new site which focuses more on the info and less on the books. Many, but not all, of the original CHIPS newsletters are at the site under the Newsletter Archive menu. Traffic has continued to increase since the switch so I guess it was the right move. Check it out. Maybe I'll add some blog posts about the testing of this MicroMite prototype. www.elproducts.com |
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| TinkersALot Regular Member  Joined: 20/11/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 72 |
This board should work for a beta-bed shouldn't it? 
">clickety |
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