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atmega8

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Joined: 19/11/2013
Location: Germany
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Posted: 01:16am 26 Dec 2015

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Hi,

wasn't there a method to program a PIC with MMbasic, without any additional Hardware?
If not, what is the minimal interface circuit for it?

Thanks for clearification an Merry X-MAS.

Atmega

Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
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Posted: 01:45am 26 Dec 2015

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I seem to recall reading a thread about that some time ago, but I think although it was theoretically possible, it would take MMBASIC about 20 minutes to program one chip or something like that.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

robert.rozee
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Posted: 03:09am 26 Dec 2015

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G8JCF, JohnS, and myself all experimented with using a micromite as the programming hardware, but as Grogster recalls there were various issues around the programming time required. the best i ever achieved was something like 15 minutes, JohnS had a solution that used an FTDI bridge chip but took some number of hours, while G8JCF wrote a custom function that managed a couple of minutes or less.

when i moved from using JTAG to ICSP interface i changed over to using an arduino nano to address programming time as well as provide a solution that didn't require any 'bootstrapping' (the nano shipping with a bootloader already present, and costing only a few dollars).

cheers,
rob :-)Edited by robert.rozee 2015-12-27

atmega8

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Posted: 03:12am 26 Dec 2015

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Hi,

Time doesn't matter.
What was the best usefull Solution?

Link?

robert.rozee
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Posted: 04:40am 26 Dec 2015

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imho, pic32prog along with an arduino nano. the nano is dirt cheap from ebay (less than us$2.50 delivered), and pic32prog is current software that is being maintained and updated by serge as new pic32 devices are released.

abridged construction details:
2015-12-26_143947_constructor_guide.pdf

btw, Grogster has produced a PCB for a far neater assembly.

cheers,
rob :-)Edited by robert.rozee 2015-12-27

JohnS
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Joined: 18/11/2011
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Posted: 05:21am 26 Dec 2015

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Depends a bit which PIC chip(s) as some need rather high voltage (Vpp). The nano etc don't have that at the moment I think.

I also did a few very fast versions:
1. using a Raspberry Pi (15 secs or so)
2. you buy 2 of the cheapest Arduino programmers there are (usbisp / usbasp) and it's something like 30 secs

The above 2 don't need any zener diodes etc (I don't own any). Very very simple.

The horribly slow way you use a USB serial port, plug it into your desktop/laptop and the programming software wiggles the lines (DTR/DSR/etc) which you connect to the ICSP pins. (It's GPIO via USB packet.)

I was only looking at PIC32 at the time, no high voltage Vpp stuff.

JohnEdited by JohnS 2015-12-27

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