Moving from Basic Stamp and MIKROE basic to PicBasic PRO

[TinkersALotV2]

It is curious to see how one ping pongs across the different boards and how the story unfolds differently in different places.

[rmteo]

It is curious to see how one ping pongs across the different boards and how the story unfolds differently in different places.

... and quite entertaining.

[CuriousOne]

Yes, I specially re-used same nickname on 3 different forums, to make tracking easier.

So far, parallax one being the best one


p.s. I got code compiled and running.

[TinkersALotV2]

p.s. I got code compiled and running.

that sounds like solid progress. congratulations.

[CuriousOne]

Yes, strangely that happened with mikroe basic, not with picbasic

[CuriousOne]

But still, MIKROE guys are really nature error. IDE is full of bugs. A little example:

I started up IDE. By default, it opens last saved project. Ok, I close it.

Now I started new project, write some code and compile. Everything is OK.

Now I opened some previously saved project, make some changes, compile and want to flash. BUT, the flasher will flash the .hex image from the new project which I started when launching IDE. And to flash the current active program image, I have, EACH TIME, MANUALLY PROVIDE flasher with the correct hex file.

Is not this silly?

[CuriousOne]

Another bug: "clean up project folder" does not works. While it says "files were deleted", actually, no file being deleted. Also GLCD font creator can't save the file. It says it saved, but no file being saved.

[HenrikOlsson]

Hi,
I didn't have a 16F628A only a non A-version but I don't think the differences matters here (they are covered in Appendix C of the datasheet).
First take a look at the schematic:



With the above setup I wrote a short program, no more no less than:

Main:
  Toggle PortB.0
  Pause 250
Goto Main

I programmed the PIC and the LED blinked at 2Hz - it really can't get easier than that IMO and it certainly isn't harder than on a BasicStamp. It works because I built the hardware to match the default setup, ie using an external 4MHz x-tal.

Next thing I did was open up the .info file for the device and copied the default configuration from where it says The PBP default configuration for the PIC16F628 is: and pasted that into my program. I then read thru the available options and decided that I want to use the internal oscillator without feeding the clock out and use internal MCLR so I changed my program to:

#CONFIG
    __config _INTRC_OSC_NOCLKOUT & _WDT_ON & _PWRTE_ON & _MCLRE_OFF & _LVP_OFF & _CP_OFF
#ENDCONFIG

Main:
  Toggle PortB.0
  Pause 250
Goto Main

I removed the pullup on MCLR and the x-tal, programmed the PIC and the LED blinked with a frequency of 2Hz - as expected. All I have on the breadboard is a bypass cap, a 16F628, a resistor and a LED.

/Henrik.