Hello from a complete newbie to PICs

[AndyFreestone]

Hi there,

I'm Andy and I've just jumped into the World of PICs as a complete newbie.

Please excuse a few stupid questions as I start but I am a quick learner.

I'm starting with the Mikroe EASYPIC V7 development board and PBP3.

I do know BASIC although the PBP3 is a little bit different to the BASIC that I am familiar with.

I do have over 40 years experience in the electronics industry as both an engineer and a hobbyist - however I have not touched PICs just yet.

I've got no particular project in mind just yet, I'm just keen to learn the trickes of the trade.

Ultimately I'm aiming to produce a self-levelling headlamp system.

Andy

[AndyFreestone]

OK first problem. How do I get the drivers to install? I've got a Windows 7 - 64Bit PC. It sees the V7 board but wont install the drivers for it. I've downloaded drivers from Mikroe and extracted them but still NO GO.

[HenrikOlsson]

Hi Andy,
Welcome to the forum!
Although I have an EasyPIC7 board I haven't yet used it so I'm afraid I can't help with hands on details.
However, I do know they have a user manual (I'm sure you got a printed one as well) for that board and that there indeed are some instructions in it on how to install both the drivers and the mikroProg programmer application. In short it's not enough to simply extract the files, you need to run the setup file for the OS in question - at least that's what the manual says.

/Henrik.

[AndyFreestone]

I've read the manual and installed the oftware, it just doesn't seem to want to install the USB driver ??

[HenrikOlsson]

Hi,
When you install the drivers, make sure you use the one from the correct folder (the one for W7 64bit) and try right-clicking on the .exe and select Run As Administrator. If all fails I'd probably try the MikroE forum or support. I'll see if I can make a go at it with my board (it's about time I set it up anyway) I'm running W7 64bit as well.

/Henrik.

[AndyFreestone]

Thank you Henrik,

That seems to have done the trick. I was double clicking on the .exe file.

Regards

Andy

[AndyFreestone]

Now for the first really stupid question.

I "think" I've got the USB issue sorted out as Windows 7 can now see my EasyPIC v7 board.

I'd like to use PBP Basic as it seems far more intuitive to me than MikroBasic.

PBP Basic calls upon MPLAB IDE v8.85 which doesn't appear to support the EasyPIC v7 board.

I've also got MPLAB X IDE v1.70 which does support the EasyPIC v7.


Am I correct in assuming that PBP Basic will output some form of HEX file that any IDE program can then download into a PIC ?

As I said, I'm new to this - just playing at the moment

Andy

[HenrikOlsson]

Hi,
The EasyPIC7 is basically 3 things in one.
1) A general purpose development board. This is just hardware, chips, LEDS, buttons, jumpers, displays, sockets etc - doesn't know or care what compiler you're using.
2) A PIC Device programmer. This is used with the MikroE programmer application to program the .hex file into the actual PIC on the board. The programmer application doesn't care what compiler you used to create the .hex file.
3) A debugger. This works as an integrated part of the MikroE IDE so you can not use it with PBP. You mention MPLAB X but IF the debugger IS supported from within MPLAB X (which I doubt) you'd still have to use the MikroE compiler as a tool inside MPLAB X.

Now, PBP3 compiles your BASIC program and then uses the assembler from MPLAB v8.85 to assemble the program into a .hex file which you then programmed into the PIC in whatever suitable way. Neither PBP3 or MPLAB knows or cares about the EasyPIC7 board or its device programmer - all they do is generate the .hex file. You simply load the .hex file into the MikroE programmer application and program the PIC.

/Henrik.