If I'm purchasing in the UK should I click the link given earlier that leads to Microchip Express or does Microchip have a distributor in the UK?

The link I posted earlier is a good bet. Saves shipping from the US.

 

What is the in debug kit that isnt in the basic kit and can the extra's be purchased later?

my link was bad. Here is the one I meant to link

The main difference is that kit uses PIC16 DIP ICs rather than a PIC18 44 pin Surface Mount. You can purchase a 3 pack of the 44 pin QFP for $50US

The debugging and examples differ slightly, the 44 pin has one button, one potentiometer, and 8 LEDs. The starter kit has 1 potentiometer, 1 button, and 4 LEDs.

Both have all I/O of the processor brought out to pads and a through hole prototyping area.

So, there's not really much difference. You wouldn't want to use up more pins on the DIP PIC anyway, as you'd have fewer available for other projects that didn't involve lighting LEDs.

 

I found that Microchip express allows you to select your own country and links you to their British supplier so I just bought the Pickit2 debugger package.

Thanks for all your advice everyone. I learned a lot from this thread. It's pretty much sorted covered the practical elements that my Uni course has left out, I feel much wiser having been through this thread so thanks everyone.

The microchip youtube vid and the EEVBlog vid were really good to watch aswell.

 

my link was bad. Here is the one I meant to link

The main difference is that kit uses PIC16 DIP ICs rather than a PIC18 44 pin Surface Mount. You can purchase a 3 pack of the 44 pin QFP for $50US

The debugging and examples differ slightly, the 44 pin has one button, one potentiometer, and 8 LEDs. The starter kit has 1 potentiometer, 1 button, and 4 LEDs.

Both have all I/O of the processor brought out to pads and a through hole prototyping area.

So, there's not really much difference. You wouldn't want to use up more pins on the DIP PIC anyway, as you'd have fewer available for other projects that didn't involve lighting LEDs.

Are they really that expensive? I pay less than a dollar for a TQFP44 adapter.

The Vellemann board is not so good. I used it years ago. It only supports some older PICs.

The PICKIT2 is outdated as well.

Use a PICKIT3.

 

The PICkit 2 is older and will not support some of the newer devices. However it works well and does cover very many useful devices.

The PICkit 3 is newer and supports all devices. However it is a bit more expensive.

Don't start with your own breadboard, and I don't recommend solderless breadboards either. An assembled tested board is where you want to start: there are so many things interacting you want to minimize what problems you can have (and you will have several) until you get some experience with these things.

Any of these dev boards is a good starting place. A button, a pot and some LEDs will teach you many of the fundamentals. These boards come with tutorials making them very very good tools to being with.

Once you get these basics down you can take off the training wheels and roll your own boards, and again either PICkit will work with those.

My sticky on PICkits

 

Are they really that expensive? I pay less than a dollar for a TQFP44 adapter.

The Vellemann board is not so good. I used it years ago. It only supports some older PICs.

The PICKIT2 is outdated as well.

Use a PICKIT3.

My bad. $25 for 3 1 populated and 2 blanks. You can get the other chips free as samples to populate the other two.

I don't see a reason for getting the PICKIT 3 when starting out. The whole "But it's ONE better than 2" concept doesn't cover it.

When you look at all the extra features and tools the PICKit 2 provides, and a realistic look at what you'll be working with for the next year or so if just starting, there's not anything a PICKit 3 will do that a PICKit 2 can't, while the PICKit 2 has more features, just little support for the very low voltage core DSP processors.

The above is especially true when the 3 is $20 more for less applicable functionality outside programming, only adding support for a small family of chips most hobbyists don't use, or if they do, they don't need to ask which PICKit to get, since they've been working with them for quite a while.

 

Does it support the extended midrange 16F chips?

They are much better than any other 16F.

The PICKIT3 is also more relieable, and if you use anything beyond Windows XP, the USB driver is also better.

I used a PICKIT2, and it became more and more erratic. I exchanged some transistors, but somehow the whole board wasn't working anymore.

Why they did not include the logic analyzer in the PICKIT3 is a riddle to me. A slightly larger transparent red box maybe with a small LCD, and extra FLASH so they don't need to reload the firmware all the time.

You can also use more than one PICKIT3 at the same time.

Experimentation boards are mainly for students or beginners. OK some years ago I was thinking they are essential.

You can really just connect power supply to a PIC + 3 wires for ICSP, that's it. I don't understand what's so difficult about that.

It depends of course if you want to go through some lessons at school, or if you want to design some circuits yourself. It is not difficult at all.

If you want to use C, then the 18F PICs are good.
For assembler, try the 16F5x, easy configuration and low price, or the new extended midrange 16F.

16f84 or 16f88x are outdated. As well the 10Fxxx are not a good recommendation. They are only good for mass products to save costs.

You should examine the Microchip website by all means.

 

You can get the PicKit 3 with a very nice starter set and lessons. The demo board really isn't very useful at doing much but the lessons it comes with are excellent. Plus I still use the board from tie to time for quickly checking something out. The Pic that comes on the board covers a good number of peripherals.

 

Just so that my VM111 isn't totally useless, what 15V DC Adapter can I use? Someone posted one earlier but it looked like an American plug. I find it hard to believe these guys would release a development board without a proper adapter. Money isn't really an issue, I'd rather get one that performs all functionality (Someone mentioned an option earlier that would provide partial functionality) as at most it's going to cost around £10 so I'd rather get the plug they intended us to use with it rather than anything makeshift.

I plan on building my own PC so can make use of this development board later on in terms of using the Serial port connection and until then if I can program a PIC using my soon to arrive Pickit 2 and then plug the programmed PIC into the Velleman VM111 and power it up and use the LEDs, buttons etc to test the functionality of the PIC then that would be great.

Can anyone recommend the DC adapter we are intended to use with it? With a British plug?

I don't want to get the wrong one and blow my board up lol

 

Oh and by ordering the debugger version have I missed out on anything that comes with the starter version?

 

Oh and by ordering the debugger version have I missed out on anything that comes with the starter version?

No you will not miss anything. The debugger version has a slightly more advanced chip than the low pin count version. But both has the same standard PICKIT2 unit. One thing Then you get the package. Do not install MPLAB from the CD. This is probably an older version of MPLAB. Get the newest version from the microchip web page

 

Try to find out if your course will use MPLAB 8.nn or MPLAB X. They are quite different and you may as well use the same at home.

 

The Vellemann programmer is quite a wasteful design.

The Vpp only needs 1mA. I built a RS232 programmer powered by 2x AAA cells. For the Vpp a small circuit is used.

If you were willing to experiment maybe you could patch the Vellemann programmer to use batteries.

 

I'd probably prefer to use the officially recommended adapter for now and get a bit more experimental later when I understand things better.

I am using MPLABv8.88 at home and uni

 

Yes, have fun with PIC microcontrollers.

 

I'd probably prefer to use the officially recommended adapter for now and get a bit more experimental later when I understand things better.

I am using MPLABv8.88 at home and uni

I used to use one of these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-power-multi-voltage-desktop-power-supply-48517

It burnt out after a couple of years of light use.

You must use a regulated 15V supply, not one of the cheaper unregulated supplies.EDIT: Correction - unregulated is fine - my memory fails me again

Don't waste money on a PSU for that rubbishy old Velleman monstrosity; you have wasted enough money already.

Get a genuine PICkit2 or PICkit3.

... and as a bonus, PICkit2 will program and supply power for your Velleman board without the need for a 15V adapter. I assume that PICkit3 will work with it too, but I do not own one to try it out.

EDIT: just spotted that you have a PICkit on order. This means that you do not need a 15V PSU or the use of a serial port. PICkit will do both jobs. Just ignore the 6th pin of the PICkit and plug straight into the 5 pin ICSP connector (SK3) of your Velleman board with pin 1 (white triange) to pin 1

 

I used to use one of these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-power-multi-voltage-desktop-power-supply-48517

It burnt out after a couple of years of light use.

You must use a regulated 15V supply, not one of the cheaper unregulated supplies.

Don't waste another £20 to £30 on a PSU for that rubbishy old Velleman monstrosity; you have wasted enough money already.

Get a genuine PICkit2 or PICkit3.

... and as a bonus, PICkit2 will program and supply power for your Velleman board without the need for an expensive 15V regulated adapter. I assume that PICkit3 will work with it too, but I do not own one to try it out.

Hey this was my first programmer module too.
It made me insist to use assembler in the first place
The programmer software's author original homepage has been parked quite a long while ago.

The board has a protection diode for the DC jack. So with only 12 volts you are on the margin for the programming voltage.

It's perfectly normal for programmers to accumulate stuff which isn't so much useful in the end

I have ended up with two GAL programmers, one can not be used with my current Windows so it's sitting there and gathering dust. Same for one old Motorola controller demo board- hopeless outdated IDE software which does not work as well anymore.

I don't know how many power supplies I bought over the years. I got a quite good one from Tesco- switching mode so it's small, and with a sliding switch for 3V to 12V.

I think the board even has a small 78L12, so you really need 15V.

Bypass the diode+ the 78L12, and solder a wire from 12V electronic adapter. No risk really. There is also a 5V regulator. Or maybe it was just a Z diode for the 12V? The schematic is actually included.

 

I have ended up with two GAL programmers, one can not be used with my current Windows so it's sitting there and gathering dust. Same for one old Motorola controller demo board- hopeless outdated IDE software which does not work as well anymore.=

Do you know of free software for programming GALs? I somehow ended up with about 100 of them, I have an EPROM Burner (Universal programmer that supports GAL through PIC), just no way to make the file the .GAL needs. I went from microcontrollers to FPGA, skipping over GAL and CPLD.

 

None that I would be aware of. Atmel's WinCUPL does the job. It's free just registration is needed. But it is not opensource or explicitely free software.

You need a .JED or .HEX file for the FLASH writer or programmer whatever it is called.

 

You want to talk about accumulating useless things? I still have my PICkit 1.

One. Uno. The first.

I think it's actually still in production.