NOTICE:
There appears to be a difference between the MAX232 and ST232 ICs
used on the Inchworm. If you're experiencing problems and your
Inchworm is using a MAX232 IC please substitute an ST232 IC.
Inchworm has
been replaced by the NEW Inchworm+
kit
Inchworm ICD2 Quick Project
Poster "Hello World"
I've created a quick
start poster to get you started with your first PIC program.
Schematics and source code for the Firefly 16F88 and a handful of
popular PICs. Also a quick intro to Microchips MPLAB IDE
What makes the
Inchworm ICD2 better than
other PIC programmers in its price range.
-
Microchip ICD2 MPLAB IDE 7.xx compatible
-
Programs the latest PIC chips always (16F887 is
brand new and supported)
-
*Debugs most FLASH based PICs (more and more
common with every new PIC)
-
Very high quality double sided PCB will last for
many years
-
Fun and Easy to build, after all when you work
with microcontrollers you'll generally need to be able to solder
-
Great manual, many inexpensive PIC programmers
have very limited if any documentation
-
5V up to 1A power supply built in for your
target projects, this is very rare among inexpensive programmers
-
Designed to fit in a Hammond 1591B case bottom
or top (the Half Shell), few kits consider an enclosure
-
Can also be powered from your project, requires
approx 60ma max.
-
Uses a common inexpensive 9 - 15VDC AC wall
adapter, many programmers require 18VDC supplies
-
Common parts used throughout design means easy
to repair, people DO break their ICD2s ($$$)
-
Won't damage your USB port, a simple mistake can
damage your USB port when powering a project ($$$)
Microchips MPLAB IDE
7.50 as of this writing is the tool that professional PIC
programmers use. You can download it free from
http://www.microchip.com it
includes everything you'll need to use your Inchworm ICD2.
*Debugging makes
programming and learning PICs very easy
as you can stop, examine and modify your code and/or symbols &
variables at will.
Some files and links
you may need.
The colour
Inchworm Assembly Manual including schematic.
ICD2 bootloader firmware for a 16F877A
Inchworm 16F877A Firmware
PS I don't give away the PCB layout files, I've got to make a living
after all.
A
note on using PICBASIC
On a side-note I've integrated
MeLabs PICBASIC into MPLAB. Integrating it was easy, just follow
the MPLAB instructions on MeLabs site.
The difficult part was setting
the __config directive. It's poorly documented (I couldn't find it)
on the MeLabs site. So to save you the trouble here's what I found
out.
Here's an example on a 16F628A,
you set the __config directive as follows
@__config 0x3F38 'This hex
number is your config setting
You will get a
"Error[118] C:\PIC DEMOS\INCHWORM DISPLAY.ASM 265 : Overwriting
previous address contents (2007)"
When you compile, just ignore
it.
After that it worked like a
charm. Just "Compile" (F10) and "Release from Reset" to run
your project. Takes about 10 seconds.
