Post by thread:Getting acquainted

Hi, my name is Byron Jeff. I'm a PhD candidate at Georgia Tech and a Asst. Prof. of Computer Science at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta. I think the mailing list is a great idea. Anyway I just wanted to get the discussion going. After hearing about the PIC 16C5X parts in Circuit Cellar INK, I quickly made friends with my local Microchip Representative. I've gotten some samples of the 16C71, 16C54, and later on some 25 Mhz 17C42's. Unfortunately I've had neither the time or the equipment to exploit these chips yet. I have a few areas of interest I'd like to share with you. Feel free to send mail if you'd like to discuss it. - Device programmers. Most of the talk on the sci.electronics newsgroup has been about a homebrew 16C84 programmer. I can see why most folks are attracted to the part because of the EEPROM. But while the PIC programmers available are relatively inexpensive, there isn't a cheap way to program all the PIC family members and adding up the costs of the different programmers can get quit expensive. So in the small amount of spare time I have I've been working up a design for a device programmer. Unfortunately device programmers are usually a catch-22 situation: the best way to build a device programmer is to start with a programmed device. So my first target is going to be the PIC 17C42. (BTW DIGI KEY is selling the 17C42 and the new 16C64.) There was an article in Electronics NOW for a 16C5X programmer (that used a 17C42) and it had a small blurb about a 17C42 programmer (that used a 8749 Intel microcontroller). It seemed way too complicated. I'm planning on bootstrapping from a PC. - Languages - I've seen the adds for a C compiler for the PIC 16C5X series. Seems like going duck hunting with a bazooka. I'm teaching a class in system software development and 2 of the projects are a simple assembler and compiler. I've choosen the PIC platform as the target. Unfortunately none of my students completed the whole project. But I've been working on it the compiler on and off. The language is a simpified C syntax. I have the scanner, parser and expression evaluator done. All that's left is code generation. Because of this class I also have the shell of an assembler. Not that PIC assembly is hard to do! I know that Microchip has assemblers for their parts but it's MSDOS only and they don't have source available. I'm a Linux user myself so DOS based tool have no real use for me. In fact the Microchip DOS assemblers crash my Linux DOS emulator. For the assembler I'm planning on MICROCHIP format only (no parallax meta stuff) and just enough so that the compiler can use it. BTW nothing is finished. However I'm hoping to spend some time next month finishing up. - Applications - My main hobby is computer based music. I'm currently designing a hardware MIDI sequencer that's going to use PIC's for IO processors for devices such as the keyboard/mouse, LCD display, and MIDI serial ports. The main processor is a Motorola 68340 board I put together last year. Anyway just wanted to get the ball rolling on the mailing list. Tell us about what you're trying to do with PIC parts. Later, BAJ