calling all programers

[rotccapt]

is there any one in the oklahoma city area that would be able to program a pic for me if i were to supply the hex file?

or any one willing to program it for me via mail.

[Malc C]

With e-mail and airmail, it's possible for anyone to program a PIC and send it to you (for the cost of postage and a chip). What's the code for and which PIC are your wanting to use ?

[rotccapt]

the pic is a pik12f629 and it is for a servo slow unit

does any one have experience with the pickit2 programmer i am considering buying this unit so that i can do it my self

[rmteo]

The PicKit2 is an excellent programmer and you will not go wrong with it. It will program just about every PIC from the 12F to PIC32's and anything in between.

[Gary Warner]

I'm in Dallas. It's 1 day mail away. I have about 300 12F629's and the programmer is always on.

Curious: Where did you get hex files for the servo slower?

EDIT: Sorry, I see you most likely got it from RC-CAMS, as noted in another one of your posts.

I'll be designing a servo slower. Any ideas for a improvements over his would be welcome.

[rotccapt]

i think that a servo reverser built in so that you could use this as a flap drive using two servos.

[JohnMuchow]

I also VERY highly recommend the PICKit2. I have 2 of them and will be getting a third as more than one can be used at the same time...one for programming and another for serial port monitoring. And I need three of them if I'm programming two PICs that are communicating with each other and a third for port monitoring.

It's inexpensive, tiny, works perfectly every time for me and will always be supported by Microchip. And once you try ICSP programming, you'll never even consider socketing a PIC and moving it back and forth to a programmer. :)

[Edit] I also have a PICStart II programmer but stopped using it when I purchased my first PICKit2. Have never used it since.

[rotccapt]

is the pic12f629 a common pic in the rc world? meaning should i buy more than i need for this project so i have extras for future projects?

[JohnMuchow]

I always buy a couple extra since I'll inevitably blow one up. :)
But, for occasional hobby use it might be worth grabbing a bunch just to get a quantity discount and to spread out the shipping cost. I wouildn't buy a huge pile of them though as Microchip is always coming out with great new chips that you also may want to try. Especially as your projects become more and more complex.

[rotccapt]

so would you say in the ball park of 25 since that is the first quantity discount on the site i am looking at

[JohnMuchow]

It all depends on what you'll be planning on doing. Lots of small projects, a mix, or quickly moving up to large ones. Actually, giving it some more thought and seeing that you really don't save a ton of money by buying 25 at a time, here's what I'd do. YMMV though. :)

Buy 3 of the PIC12F629 for immediate use but also buy 3 of two other larger PICS. Believe me, you will want to step up to the larger PICs soon due to their higher I/O pin count, higher resolution ADC, internal oscillators, addt'l hardware serial comm support, timers, etc. The selection of 3 different PICs will give you all kinds of options to play with for a long time and you can always buy a batch of 25 or more if you decide to make a bunch of a particular project. I'd recommend the 16F690, 18F2523 and 18F4620 for mid-sized and larger ones. Not for any real objective reasons (larger memory though), just because they worked for my projects and for goofing off.

You really can't go wrong with any particular chip as long as it has the features/pins you're looking for. Yea, there are 20 more seemingly almost identical to the one you're considering. But, you'll be able to sort through them pretty quickly and narrow down the selection with an hour or two of browsing Microchip's site. Start with the ones you like, buy 3 of each, and play around a bit. You'll then work out which ones you then need for particular features and then will be able to really narrow down your choices.

All just my personal take on things. I'm sure others will chime in with their approaches to stuff like this. Mix & match whatever you feel will work for you.

John

[balesse]

If you only need a few PICs, Microchip will send them out for free. I think they will give you something like four chips of three different types for free.

http://sample.microchip.com/Default.aspx?testCookies=true

[EDIT]
Ok, it looks like you can choose five different products to sample and get three pieces of each product. (so, up to 15 samples) (based on the FAQ link on their samples page.)

Oh, if I remember correctly, they did not take that long to arrive last time I ordered samples.

[Ron W3FJW]

'scuse me for jumping in here, but I've just been to the Microchip site nosing around but that has left me with a few questions I hope you fellows can answer for me.
Knowing absolutely nothing about all this, but being retired and having all the time in the world to learn, can y'all list for me the kits, or parts necessary to learn how to program and debug these devices. I really guess I'm asking, does the PicKit2 have all the parts and software necessary to do the above, or, what is it that I need to order to have a complete setup to learn with?? :confused:

TIA
Ron
W3FJW

[JohnMuchow]

Look for the PICKit2 Starter Kit. It comes with all the hardware and software you'll need. IIRC, onboard it has 4 LEDs, a button, a potentiometer, and a bit of prototyping space for your circuitry. It also comes with the complete development environment and free assembler and a decent C compiler. If you want to program in Basic, I believe you'll have to purchase the software for that (e.g., PICBasic).

It comes with a 16F690 PIC but has a socket for any other 8-20 pin "midrange" PICs. You can also purchase other demo boards (for higher-pin count PICs) that will work with the PICKit programmer that you get with the Starter Kit.

There are also lots of other demo/development boards out there for PICs that all the hardware and software you'll need. For me, personally, I chose to stick with Microchip's stuff. You can save money (or get more features) elsewhere though.

John

[Ron W3FJW]

Thanks John. I appreciate the information. I thought as much about the starter kit, but as I said, I'm a total newbie at this so just needed a bit of reinforcement.
Now, if I only knew which samples I want. Some applicable to Ham Radio and some RC...

Thanks again,
Ron

[JohnMuchow]

One way to narrow down the choices is to take a peek at what PICs have been used for the types of projects you'll be doing. But, IMHO, there's so much overlap between the different PICs, and so little cost difference when you're only buying a few, that just about any PIC you buy will work. That is, as long as it has enough of the memory and peripherals you need....digital inputs/outputs, analog-to-digital converters, internal oscillator, timers, serial ports, etc.

But, you can always do what I did when starting. I bought the 8-pin, 20-pin, 28-pin, and 40-pin PICs with the largest program and data memory and started playing with those. The extra dollar or two I spent on each over the other PICs was totally worth it. If I didn't need all those pins/memory/peripherals, and I wanted to build more of that particular project, I could always buy PICs with fewer of those things to save a buck or two. In the end though, it's almost always been easier to stick with the bigger PIC.

Take a look at the general specs and feature set for the 16F690 that comes with the PICKit2 Starter Kit demo board. If that PIC doesn't seem to have enough of what you might need (pins, memory, ADC channels, etc.), try other 16F PICs. Up to 20-pins that is. Over that and you'll need to buy a different demo board or use In-Circuit-Serial-Programming and your PICKit programmer to program them as the standard demo board for the Starter Kit only holds up to 20-pin PICs.

I think you'll be amazed at how much can be done with even an 8-bit PIC....or a couple of them handling different duties. :)

[Edit] A great way to also narrow down the choices is to realize that the PICs come in "families". When you see the data sheet (manual that is) for the 16F690, you'll see that it also covers the PIC16F631, 677, 685, 687, and 689. Each family has a large common base of features but there are a few differences between PICs in the family. In the first few pages of the data sheet there's a chart that quickly tells you the differences.

[Ron W3FJW]

Again John, I thank you for the insight. Everything you suggest sounds logical to me so I will follow your advice. A lot of Ham Radio projects use the 8 pin PICs but I'll have to take a closer look. Time to dig out the QSts. Now, just have to find a Pic Basic program since I'm not at all familiar with Assembly or C.. Have to check to see whether that's an option with Microchip.. :)

Ron

[rmteo]

Ron, for a start, download this BASIC for free:
http://www.mikroe.com/en/compilers/mikrobasic/pic/index.htm

The free version is limited to 2K of compiled code, but that may be all that you need. They also have a great user forum here:
http://www.mikroe.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10

[balesse]

Ron, depending on you level of experience and what you are hoping to accomplish, you could also look at an Arduino. It is Amtel based (as opposed to pic), but what is nice is the way it had been packaged up. It is very much geared towards hobbiest and (in my opinion) is much easier to get up and running. For $30-$50 you can have everything you need (without having to assemble the board your self) and can get a basic program running in very little time. The chips are bigger though, so if you are looking to keep things light, it might not be the way to go.

[JohnMuchow]

Ron,
The recommendation from rmteo is a good one, mikroBasic is definitely worth trying out. Especially since you can do it for free!
I use PicBasic Pro (http://www.melabs.com) but it's most definitely not free. :(

John

[Ron W3FJW]

Thanks guys. Have downloaded the Microchip stuff and Mikrobasic. Don't know just what the difference is with Amtel but will look at it as well. The hardware will come after the next SS check arrives. I've only run across one project using Amtel so far in my QST library. The rest are all Pics.
Also looked at the PicAxe (from GB I think) but will I think, stay with stuff I can order from Allied or Digikey as I have existing accounts there.... :cool:

Looks like it's "back to school" time.... :D TGIR

Thanks again,
Ron