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[AU 200th Issue CD-ROM] Jaffa Software

PICsuite

 

Introduction

The introduction of the versatile PIC microprocessor by Arizona Microchip in the early 1990's spawned an explosion of assemblers for the IBM compatible PC. A while later ones started to appear for the Acorn platform, often ports of others from the PC.

PICsuite

However, few attempted to write one from scratch with the Acorn in mind, and PICbasic is just one of those. It reads in (from disk) a tokenised BASIC file containing mnemonics in exactly the same way as you would use them if writing ARM assembler or 6502 assembler on the BBC.

PICsuite consists of three programs:

  • PICbasic - the assembler, turns tokenised BASIC sources into PIC code ready for coding onto a PIC.

  • PICdis - the disassembler, turns PIC code back into a tokenised BASIC source.

  • PICprogrammer - the program used to transfer PIC code files onto a PIC for use in a circuit.

Product details

Available to order now is a universal PIC programmer board and software. The software includes program, verify, blank check and dump capability.

Configuration bits, user ID, EEPROM data memory and of course code memory can all be read or programmed and saved in a variety of formats - either for you to read or for PICdiss to turn back into source code.

Delivery takes approximately three weeks as the boards are manufactured abroad. Any availability questions you may have should be emailed to us. Technical questions can be emailed direct to the author.

Comparable products include part VH00A from Maplin Electronics in Essex costing £149.99 or 631-760 from Farnell Electronics in Leeds for £143.94.

PICsuite, however, costs much less (all inclusive):

PIC programmer board, RISC OS and BBC versions of the software   £99.00
PIC programmer board, BBC software only   £75.00
Suitable 12v PSU in black casing with ample lead   £9.99
Suitable fully occupied printer lead for BBC micro   £9.99
Suitable fully occupied Centronics lead for parallel port   £9.99

The above pricing includes printed manual, and some text files on the distribution disk which are subject to frequent change as Arizona bring out new devices. ALL minor software upgrades are free, by returning the original disk.

Please see this guide for details on how to pay.

Hardware projects to try

There is a simple "get you working" project to try which takes the input voltage on line ADC0 and converts it to a VU bar style display.

Or, complete with diagrams, is a slightly more complex project that acts as a maximum/minimum temperature display with screen saver and user adjustable alarm points which could then be used to (for example) open a window or buzz a buzzer.

PICsuite FAQ's

    1. Does PICbasic understand the pseudo mnemonic OPT?
      A. Yes, however only certain bits of it are valid - for example offset assembly must always be used as the assembler isn't running on the PIC itself.

    2. Does PICbasic output to Intel hex object format files or similar?
      A. No, the resulting file is a binary file ready to be programmed straight into the EPROM or PROM memory inside the PIC chip.

    3. Which of the microcontrollers are supported by the current software?
      A. The assembler and disassembler will understand 14 bit micros only. This rules out the 16C5X series which are only 12 bit instruction bus wide.

The programmer driver is capable of handling the following micros, though physically some may not fit into the on-board ZIF socket, so a simple adapter may be required (details are supplied on how to build these):

16C6116C64/64A 16C71 (PIC with ADCs)16C76 (PIC with ADCs)
16C62/62A16C65/65A 16C710 (PIC with ADCs)16C77 (PIC with ADCs)
16C6316C66 16C711 (PIC with ADCs)
16C62016C67 16C72 (PIC with ADCs)16F83 (Flash PIC)
16C62116C73/73A (PIC with ADCs)16F84 (Flash PIC)
16C62216C74/74A (PIC with ADCs)16C84 (EEPROM based PIC)

© Jaffa Software 1998.
Last modified: Wed Aug 5 10:26:06 BST 1998 (Now uses MML)