Questions about PicKit 3.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

I have J1 set to #2 and I have J2 - J7 set to 2-3. Here's a picture of how I have the PIC installed in the ZIF socket. I've verified the right pins from the ZIF socket are going into the right sockets on the PicKit3, I didn't want to plug it in backwards and risk frying stuff.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

PIC16F628A is a relatively weak microcontroller, it has very few features, little memory and ram, there's much better chips out there with more built in features like hardware i2c and spi, which could be useful.

My favourite goto for tests is PIC16F1519 : http://www.digikey.com/product-detai...2FP-ND/2651374

It's wide dip so it's easy to put on prototyping board, it's dip40 so it has lots of i/o pins, has 28 KB of flash (16 kwords because each word is 14 bits) so you can just code without worrying about optimizations to reduce program size, built in 16 mhz oscillator so you don't need to use external oscillator to go above 4 Mhz (as it happens with your chosen pic)

It's kinda hard to damage a pic just by programming it with bad code. MPLAB-X is pretty good about spotting mistakes so it would be kinda hard to create a broken binary and have mplab program it to a pic and damage the pic.

Thanks for the response! I agree, the PIC16F628A is kinda limited. It's what the original developer chose though so I'm kinda stuck with it for this design. I will be upgrading it though. I want to use some motors, probably stepper motors, with my project and I'll need more pins. I'm already having trouble using this programmer though. I insert the PIC16F628A into the ZIF (there's no ICSP headers on the actual circuit board) and I set all the jumpers correctly. Then, I hook up the PicKit3 to the PC. The MPLAB X program recognizes the PicKit3. I select a basic program and then I try to read the hex file from the chip. I select the drop down menu and choose Read device memory to file. I hit okay. It pops up a warning message:

[FONT="Times New Roman"]
CAUTION: Check that the device selected in MPLAB IDE (PIC16F628A) is the same
one that is physically attached to the debug tool. Selecting a 5V device when a
3.3V device is connected can result in damage to the device when the debugger
checks the device ID. Do yo wish to continue?
[/FONT]

and then it fails with:

[FONT="Times New Roman"]
*****************************************************

Connecting to MPLAB PICkit 3...

Currently loaded firmware on PICkit 3
Firmware Suite Version.....01.40.05
Firmware type..............Midrange

Target device was not found (could not detect target voltage VDD). You must connect to a target device to use PICkit 3.
[/FONT]

When they say the debug tool, they're talking about the PicKit3, right? And not one of those debug headers or whatever they're called? I've also tried plugging the ZIF directly into the PicKit3 instead of using the cable they provided me with, to rule out problems there. I'm wondering if I don't have the chip in the ZIF socket properly or something.

[mariushm]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

PIC16F628A is a relatively weak microcontroller, it has very few features, little memory and ram, there's much better chips out there with more built in features like hardware i2c and spi, which could be useful.

My favourite goto for tests is PIC16F1519 : http://www.digikey.com/product-detai...2FP-ND/2651374

It's wide dip so it's easy to put on prototyping board, it's dip40 so it has lots of i/o pins, has 28 KB of flash (16 kwords because each word is 14 bits) so you can just code without worrying about optimizations to reduce program size, built in 16 mhz oscillator so you don't need to use external oscillator to go above 4 Mhz (as it happens with your chosen pic)

It's kinda hard to damage a pic just by programming it with bad code. MPLAB-X is pretty good about spotting mistakes so it would be kinda hard to create a broken binary and have mplab program it to a pic and damage the pic.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

Each J2 to J7 has 3 pins, pin 1 is the one closest to the ZIP socket.

So when it says J* set to 1-2, it means pull out the jumper and set it on the first two pins on that J jumper. Where it says 2-3, put it on the last two pins.

Sounds complicated, especially without documentation. Honestly, you could have bought an original Pickit3, you only buy it once after all.

As for LCD displays, there's all kinds of them .. There's the old character only 2x16, 2x20, 4x16-20 character, which use a 4bit or 8bit data bus and 2-3 command wires.

Then there's some graphical displays which use controllers with same commands as the ones above but wire the lcd pixels in such a way that there's no blank lines between character rows, so you can basically make any graphic by "uploading" a custom character font to the lcd display's memory (all have room for custom characters in them) and then when you send a command to print a character, it basically draws 8x8 pixels or something like that.

Then there's displays which use i2c or spi to make connection between them and mcu, which means less wires but not necessarily more speed (i2c is especially slow), it just reduces wires.

Then there's displays that use 8-16 bit data buses and some control lines to let you control large amount of rgb pixels or whatever...

You already saw http://newhavendisplay.com/ , I'd suggest browsing through the various models and downloading the datasheets, you'll see how they connect.
First learn to program a microcontroller, do some basic stuff like working with easy 2x16 character displays, then think about 320x240 pixel displays and so on.

Thank you! I knew how to read the jumper settings and when it says 1-2 or 2-3, I knew what that meant, just wasn't sure if pin 1 was closest to the ZIF socket or if pin 3 was. Thank you so much!

I have a 2x16 display I believe, that I'm going to play around with. I bought the PIC pre-programmed but it came with source code. It's just in Pro BASIC. So I'm going to try to rewrite it in C. Then I'll try playing with the 320x240 pixel display like you suggest and then hopefully, I'll be ready for the touch screen stuff.

I've seen PICs where there's some security bit that gets set. I've downloaded the MPLAB X and downloaded the XC8 compiler. I just want to make sure if I erase the original binary file on the PIC16F628A microcontroller and flash my C version on there, if I mess something up, I can just reprogram it with the original .hex binary file.

Also, if my C program isn't correct, if I mess something up but it compiles fine, is there any chance I could actually damage the circuit board or the PIC? Or would it just not work?

[mariushm]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

Each J2 to J7 has 3 pins, pin 1 is the one closest to the ZIP socket.

So when it says J* set to 1-2, it means pull out the jumper and set it on the first two pins on that J jumper. Where it says 2-3, put it on the last two pins.

Sounds complicated, especially without documentation. Honestly, you could have bought an original Pickit3, you only buy it once after all.

As for LCD displays, there's all kinds of them .. There's the old character only 2x16, 2x20, 4x16-20 character, which use a 4bit or 8bit data bus and 2-3 command wires.

Then there's some graphical displays which use controllers with same commands as the ones above but wire the lcd pixels in such a way that there's no blank lines between character rows, so you can basically make any graphic by "uploading" a custom character font to the lcd display's memory (all have room for custom characters in them) and then when you send a command to print a character, it basically draws 8x8 pixels or something like that.

Then there's displays which use i2c or spi to make connection between them and mcu, which means less wires but not necessarily more speed (i2c is especially slow), it just reduces wires.

Then there's displays that use 8-16 bit data buses and some control lines to let you control large amount of rgb pixels or whatever...

You already saw http://newhavendisplay.com/ , I'd suggest browsing through the various models and downloading the datasheets, you'll see how they connect.
First learn to program a microcontroller, do some basic stuff like working with easy 2x16 character displays, then think about 320x240 pixel displays and so on.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

I got my PicKit3 clone today!!!! But now I have a bunch of questions! Nothing came with any manuals or anything. I got a nifty ZIF socket but I'm not 100% sure how to use it. The back has some words:

[FONT="Times New Roman"]
DIP28, 40: J1:3 / J2, J3, J4, J5, J6, J7: 2-3
DIP8, 14, 18, 20: J1:2 / J2, J3, J4, J5, J6, J7: 2-3
PIC10FXXX: J1:1 / J3: 1-2 / J2, J4, J5, J6, J7: 2-3
PIC16F57: J1:3 / J2:1-2 / J3, J4, J5, J6, J7: 2-3
PIC16F59: J1:2 / J2, J3: 2-3 / J4, J5, J6, J7: 1-2
[/FONT]

I have a PIC16F628A, which is 18 pins, so I'd want the DIP18 settings. Setting J1 is easy because it's a two pin header and there's three options, 1, 2 and 3.

It's J2 - J7 where I'm a bit confused. There's five three pin headers there but it doesn't tell me which of the three pins are pin 1 or pin 3. They just say J2, J3, J4, J5, J6, J7. Should I assume that the pin closest to the ZIF socket is pin 1? I'll post a picture so you guys can see what I'm talking about.

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

for pic,
mplab-x contains or can download a c-compiler,
you can find loads of info and example code at microchip.com

or things like this:
http://gcbasic.sourceforge.net/


for the ST stuff, they have links to free tools and examples.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

that's clearly going to need atleast 13pins.

the thing to remember when using microcontrollers is pincount - keep track of your pins or you can run out real fast!

Gotcha. I was also thinking maybe I should work on some simpler projects first, when I get my PicKit3 clone (Thanks for the link! Ordered from the link you provided!!!). Like perhaps trying to control an LED or something like that. Can you recommend any good free resources (or even paid ones) that go into details on how to program / use PICs? I see some have global interrupts, some don't, etc. I know a lot of my questions are probably novice type questions and I do appreciate you taking the time to help.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

i'm thinking you should maybe forget pic's
they are designed for simple stuff.

either use AVR or as you like C/C++ go directly to using ARM-core.

look at this:
http://www.st.com/web/catalog/tools/...S1532/PF259090
http://stm32f4-discovery.com/stm32f429-discovery/

or without the addons:
http://www.st.com/web/catalog/tools/...N1847/PF262063
https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/ST-Nucleo-F446RE/

these things are sold at cost (next to nothing) to encourage developers.
dont buy them from ebay - use the distributors like element14 / mouser etc.

Okay Stj. I'm familiar with Element14. I like them. I really appreciate all the help and information you've provided. I thought the PIC would work because I saw a lot of posts on MicroChip about using pic24f's and pic32's to control the various LCD screens out there. Again, thank you for the links. I'll definitely be looking into AVR and ARM based processors. Always kinda liked ARMs.

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

So, I've been on NewHaven's website, and for that display, they do seem to sell a controller board ( )

Well, they actually sell two. One for 8-bit and one for 16-bit. They're listed as being compatible with that 3.5" display. Could I not just use that controller board to interface the display with a PIC? I see the pinouts for J1 on that 16-bit board are as follows:

[FONT="Courier New"]J1 (SSD1963 input from user's MPU):
Pin No.    Symbol   External    Function Description
             Connection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1       VSS   Power Supply   Ground
2       VDD   Power Supply   Power supply for LCD and logic (3.3V)
3       B/L   Enable      Power Supply Backlight Enable
4        RS   MPU       Register Select. 
                     RS=0: Command, RS=1: Data

5       /WR   MPU       8080 mode: Active LOW Write
6       /RD   MPU       8080 mode: Active LOW Read
7-22    DB0-DB15  MPU       8‐bit bidirectional data bus
23       NC*    -        No Connect
24       NC*    -        No Connect
25       /CS   MPU       Active LOW Chip Select
26       /RST   MPU       Active LOW Reset
27-32     NC*    -        No Connect[/FONT]

that's clearly going to need atleast 13pins.

the thing to remember when using microcontrollers is pincount - keep track of your pins or you can run out real fast!

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

i'm thinking you should maybe forget pic's
they are designed for simple stuff.

either use AVR or as you like C/C++ go directly to using ARM-core.

look at this:
http://www.st.com/web/catalog/tools/...S1532/PF259090
http://stm32f4-discovery.com/stm32f429-discovery/

or without the addons:
http://www.st.com/web/catalog/tools/...N1847/PF262063
https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/ST-Nucleo-F446RE/

these things are sold at cost (next to nothing) to encourage developers.
dont buy them from ebay - use the distributors like element14 / mouser etc.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

and again, you cant use it.
those digikey displays have no controller and no easy way to even connect to them.

this is a bit of a jump from a 2line crap-character display!!

So, I've been on NewHaven's website, and for that display, they do seem to sell a controller board ( )

Well, they actually sell two. One for 8-bit and one for 16-bit. They're listed as being compatible with that 3.5" display. Could I not just use that controller board to interface the display with a PIC? I see the pinouts for J1 on that 16-bit board are as follows:

[FONT="Courier New"]J1 (SSD1963 input from user's MPU):
Pin No.    Symbol   External    Function Description
             Connection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1       VSS   Power Supply   Ground
2       VDD   Power Supply   Power supply for LCD and logic (3.3V)
3       B/L   Enable      Power Supply Backlight Enable
4        RS   MPU       Register Select. 
                     RS=0: Command, RS=1: Data

5       /WR   MPU       8080 mode: Active LOW Write
6       /RD   MPU       8080 mode: Active LOW Read
7-22    DB0-DB15  MPU       8‐bit bidirectional data bus
23       NC*    -        No Connect
24       NC*    -        No Connect
25       /CS   MPU       Active LOW Chip Select
26       /RST   MPU       Active LOW Reset
27-32     NC*    -        No Connect[/FONT]

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

A UV LED Exposure unit to make PCBs. But I want to make more than just that. I figured I could use the experience gained from interfacing a touch screen screen to this unit towards building an IR Reflow machine for BGA type stuff.

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

what's it actually for?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

and again, you cant use it.
those digikey displays have no controller and no easy way to even connect to them.

this is a bit of a jump from a 2line crap-character display!!

Okay. Yeah, it is a big jump and I'm definitely not knowledgeable enough in the subject to successfully do it. But that's what I want in the end. A real nice touch screen type display. Maybe down the road when I get my programmer I can start playing around more and while I'm waiting, continue to learn.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

takes 1-2weeks to europe.

Yeah? It only takes 1 - 2 weeks for stuff to get here from Europe too. I don't know why it takes so long for China. Last time, it was over a month!

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

and again, you cant use it.
those digikey displays have no controller and no easy way to even connect to them.

this is a bit of a jump from a 2line crap-character display!!

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

Okay. So I won't buy from digikey, but I have been physically looking at the various touch screens in the house and have decided I want 3.5". Maybe 4.5". Even though I won't buy it from Digikey, here's the screen I'm thinking about now:

http://www.digikey.com/product-searc...ATXL%23-T-1-ND

I was thinking of controlling it with maybe a PIC24FJ256GB106 PIC.

http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts...IC24FJ256GB106

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

or bigger
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221831832114

[stj]

Re: Questions about PicKit 3.

forget the digikey stuff.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261582968498
keep it cheap