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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : 640k sram pic32mz da
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| isochronic Guru  Joined: 21/01/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 689 |
This looks like the new chip..only 176 pins to solder 
pic32mz da anyone got a translation that I can read ? 
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9590 |
Typical of the Microchip website these days, the damn thing seems to be run on a Windows 3.11 machine and a 286 with acoustic modem, and I got sick to death of waiting forever for the PDF in the link to arrive(like everything else on their site these days), so I did not get a chance to look at it. My grumpiness with the Microchip website speed notwithstanding, the MZ series of chips force you to use Harmony - which I gather from those in the know, is anything but - to program them, making any Micromite project based on them essentially a page-one rewrite of the entire code, so I don't see that happening anytime if ever. Geoff will be able to chime in here if he wants to say he has plans for this chip, but I don't hear good things about Harmony around the net..... Even when using the MZ's to code for other things, MC's choice of the word "Harmony" for their newest IDE appears to be something of a contradiction in terms. 
EDIT: Here is a thread of someone having lots of fun with an MZ chip: Bugged to death. ...and this was with the starter-pack that you buy to learn Harmony, and the help-file is password-protected, and they don't give you the password... No PLIB in Harmony anymore... There are heaps of threads like this all over the net - google 'Microchip Harmony problems' Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
There will be MM on MZ/EF in September, thanks to the work of a very good engineer who is working together with me on the software for the ELLO computer. As to MZ/DA, I have been having for some time the full docs and compiler (4Gb total pack) under NDA from Microchip, but at the moment I can't say anything particular about software plans. Maybe in 2017... The chip will be out around Christmas, by the way. http://rittle.org -------------- |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9590 |
Out of interest then, kiiid, what has been your experience of Harmony? I've never used it myself, as I don't code C or anything like that, but from what I read on the net, it is not encouraging. 
Perhaps you cannot answer that if you are in an NDA, but if you ARE allowed to talk about your feelings on it, I would love to know if they have perhaps fixed most(if not all) the bugs that people were talking about on the net. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
The MZ port of MM will be based on Geoff's original code, but the PLIB is currently being ported to compile for MZ. MZ/DA seems like an excellent chip (except for the package). I like very much the internal 32Mb DDR2 memory. The current errata is surprisingly short - only 9 bugs, and they are not very serious as well. It think this is going to be an amazing piece of silicon, again - except for the package. http://rittle.org -------------- |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9590 |
Dare I ask - what's horrible about the package? Is it the delightful 0.2mm spacing I think I read about? I think it is...... I'm just reading now on a forum thread about the new EF design that has fixed most if not all the silicon bugs of the first generation chips, so that is certainly a plus. Purely out of interest again, your port of MM to the MZ - is that going to have to be a page-one re-write as I recall, or have you got tricks up your sleave? 
No need for any details, just curious as to the workload this is going to be for you to do this. EDIT: From this thread: Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
No, there is no 0.2mm spacing. The 176-pin QFP is 0.4mm pitch, while the other two options are BGA. Not particularly human-friendly packages, but we live in our time... The MZ port for MM (suggested name Micromite Mega or MMM) is not a rewrite. It is the original Geoff's code with the absolute possible minimum corrections just to some hardware references. As I stated before, once ready I am going to supply Geoff with that code (if he wants, of course) so future MMBasic revisions should be available for MZ as well. I am only interested in hardware, and this is just to make my hardware working. http://rittle.org -------------- |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 10222 |
Is this something you are going to be able to release open-source? |
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| kiiid Guru Joined: 11/05/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 671 |
Haven't thought about that yet, but there is a very good chance http://rittle.org -------------- |
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