Melabs PIC Basic Pro - 16 bit devices support

[Brian]

I agree this would be nice.

[Ron Marcus]

I spoke with Charles at Melabs. He said it is not as simple as writing a new include file. The architecture is drastically different, and when it appears, it will be a whole new beast. So much for my $25.- upgrade!
Ron

[mister_e]

Yes they are really different animals indeed. 'Till now, the only few Compiler i know that support them is
Microchip c30
Hi-Tech C
and MikroElektronika

C30 work pretty good.. but i don't like it. Hi-Tech is really nice... but a bit expensive if you use it for your own home-made purpose. MikroElektronika... i don't know.

And yes, ASM is still free... but a pain

Let's see what will happen.. finger crossed!

[skimask]

MikroElektronika... i don't know.

I've been keeping up on the Mikro Basic forums for the dsPIC/PIC24. I still don't know what to think about it and it seems like there isn't much of a customer base. I'm still half tempted to try it out. dsPIC/PIC24 can run 40MIPS vs. PIC @ 10MIPS, more flash, more ram, faster speeds, etc.etc.etc.
But, then I'd almost think I was some sort of traitor for switching brands.

[mister_e]

18Fs are really capable of many things but they have their own limit. We also know that there's tons of dedicated chips/module available here and there to make things simple, if you do few units and you don't really mind about the final cost... i don't see any obvious reason to switch to those 24/DsPic... But yes indeed, they are fast. You just need to know if you really them, if you really want to do everything in software OR add 1,2 extra dedicated IC.

Hard to tell...

[rod27cn]

Not only 16bit PIC devices are available but also 32bit devices.
I wish that melabs would consider also supporting those 32bit devices.

[mister_e]

They're really nice indeed. But, honestly they're probably much C oriented than basic. I wish we will see a Basic version of it one day. For now ASM and C work really nice... for what i've done with so far.

Microchip are crazy with their new starter kit pricing, grab the pic32 one, i think it's about 50$.. but will be available on public market on December only...