Upgrating to PBP3.1

[NickMu]

Hi Team,

I’ve started the countdown to retirement and the first move will be to finally upgrade to the latest PBP.
So far, I’ve been successfully using older PBP revisions with older free MicroCode Studio. Since my applications were too simple and I got too used to my old setup, I did not feel the need to upgrade.
It only seems natural to do that now when I will have more time to learn and my old XP based desktop / laptop might fail any time.
I’m working on getting the funds together and here are a few questions that will help me go through the decision-making process:

1. Is there clear information available for a beginner to install and get this system running?
2. How many seats are allowed to be used with the latest PBP (3.1 if I’m not mistaken) and MCSPX (5.0)? If only one can it be easily moved from one system to another in case that it is needed?
3. Are these two software pieces enough to get me going (write code and generate .HEX files) or I need some other applications? If I need other applications what will they be, what revisions are recommended and what will be the advantage?
4. Are these software pieces fully compatible now with Windows 10? I will also purchase and dedicate a computer to this application and Windows 10 seem to be the best choice.
5. I owe a couple of U2 Programmers, one Field Programmer, a couple of PICKIT 3 devices, one LabX1 and one LABX2 boards. Do I need to invest in something else or these will suffice? I understand that pending the processor I will be using I might need some specific development board but right now I just want to get things going and move to the 18F family and the newer 10Fs that I understand are now supported. As I said before I learn slowly but I forget really fast so, small steps will be best for me.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Nick

[HenrikOlsson]

Hi Nick,
I'll try to answer your questions to best of my knowledge, hopefully others will chime in as well.

1. Is there clear information available for a beginner to install and get this system running?

Don't know about any instructions but as long as you're using MicroCodeStudio it's really quite straight forward.

2. How many seats are allowed to be used with the latest PBP (3.1 if I’m not mistaken) and MCSPX (5.0)? If only one can it be easily moved from one system to another in case that it is needed?

I believe it's two. I've just switched computers and the license manager allowed me to activate PBP on the new computer without first deactivating it on the old.

3. Are these two software pieces enough to get me going (write code and generate .HEX files) or I need some other applications? If I need other applications what will they be, what revisions are recommended and what will be the advantage?

You will need to install MPLABX as well since that is where the assembler is. The assembler is what gets you from a compiled program to the .hex file you program into the PIC.

4. Are these software pieces fully compatible now with Windows 10? I will also purchase and dedicate a computer to this application and Windows 10 seem to be the best choice.

Well, fully compatible, I don't know but I'm running PBP3, MCSP, MPLABX on a Windows10 machine now it seems to work for the short amount of time I've done it so far.

5. I owe a couple of U2 Programmers, one Field Programmer, a couple of PICKIT 3 devices, one LabX1 and one LABX2 boards. Do I need to invest in something else or these will suffice? I understand that pending the processor I will be using I might need some specific development board but right now I just want to get things going and move to the 18F family and the newer 10Fs that I understand are now supported. As I said before I learn slowly but I forget really fast so, small steps will be best for me.

Since you have a PICKit3 you should not need to buy anything else. Windows 10 apparently is very strict about what device drivers it allows you to use so the U2 and the Field Programmer MIGHT not work. Hopefully someone else with one or both of these devices will be able to tell you for sure.

/Henrik.

[NickMu]

Thank you Henrik for the reply.
I will order the package any day now and I will try to record the instalation steps.

For the past few days and especially esterday I was unable to get into the forum page getting a "Database error " hince my late reply . Is it me or some other members are experiencing it too?

Nick

[Demon]

Me too Nick.

[Acetronics2]

You will need to install MPLABX as well since that is where the assembler is. The assembler is what gets you from a compiled program to the .hex file you program into the PIC.

may be you should download MPLABX v2.35 ( from Microchip archives folder http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/e...-installer.exe ) and NOT the more recent versions ...
just my two cents !

4. Are these software pieces fully compatible now with Windows 10? I will also purchase and dedicate a computer to this application and Windows 10 seem to be the best choice.

I recently had to rebuid my computer on a Win 10/64 basis ... ( win XP Crashed @ 320 GB ... )
all the software you generally use with PBP will install flawlessly : I run MPLAB 8.92, MPLABX 2.35, PBP 3.10, Microcode Studio, PicMultiCalc, PicTimer calculator 0.96 plus the old Picstart plus, Pickit2 & 3 (IDE and standalone modes ) but not ICD2 (32 bits ) ...

Alain

[HenrikOlsson]

may be you should download MPLABX v2.35 ( from Microchip archives folder http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/e...-installer.exe ) and NOT the more recent versions ...
just my two cents

If you're NOT interested in using any of the newer devices then you can certainly download and use the old MPLABX 2.35 but if you're buing PBP 3.1 in order to be able to play with the devices it adds support for then you're going to HAVE TO use a new version of MPLABX. Well, it's MPASMX you need but it and the device specific header files comes bundled with MPLABX so....

Personally I've got MPLABX v3.55 installed and it seems to work just fine, compiling and assembling from MicroCodeStudio. As far as setting up PBP as the toolchain INSIDE MPLABX it may be a different story. Charles sent me some instructions the other day, when I bought the 3.1 upgrade but I haven't had time to look into it yet.

/Henrik.

[Acetronics2]

If you're NOT interested in using any of the newer devices then you can certainly download and use the old MPLABX 2.35 but if you're buing PBP 3.1 in order to be able to play with the devices it adds support for then you're going to HAVE TO use a new version of MPLABX. Well, it's MPASMX you need but it and the device specific header files comes bundled with MPLABX so....

Personally I've got MPLABX v3.55 installed and it seems to work just fine, compiling and assembling from MicroCodeStudio. As far as setting up PBP as the toolchain INSIDE MPLABX it may be a different story. Charles sent me some instructions the other day, when I bought the 3.1 upgrade but I haven't had time to look into it yet.

/Henrik.

Hi, Henrik

that would be a very interesting topic to explain how to use PBP inside MPLABX for the latests versions of this IDE ...

I still am stuck with simply creating the PBP source file ... ( I think I did it once in a while ... but I forgot what I did !!! )

that's why I do recommend using V2.35 ...

Alain

[NickMu]

Hi Team,

I am traveling and have sporadic access to internet.
Yesterday I replayed to Alain on post #5 but it seems that my reply was rejected somehow. This time could be me doing something wrong. I hate phone browsing.

Thank you Alain and Henrik for the important information. I will order my package this week and download all other suggested applications. I will also prepare a Win 10 laptop, make sure it is up to date hoping on a clean install.
I will get back with some questions when I have everything ready.
Just to be clear, on the long run I would prefer to have the latest releases to take advantage of all the new features but I was looking for a proven working combination, like the one suggested by Alain, just to make sure I get started and until I get familiar with the system.
My needs right now are still simple, but it is time to improve and get familiar with the latest.
Thank you for your support.

Nick