[sdiy] dsPIC

[Tom Wiltshire]

On 5 Dec 2008, at 23:37, Eric Brombaugh wrote:

> karl dalen wrote:
>> Im looking into some ICDs for the dspic GP802, there are loads of  
>> demo packages from everyone, wich do you use? I rater do my own  
>> ISP, ICD
>> but most seams to be based on a F877 as middle man, no real JTAG
>> as on Cortex M3, PC P-port to JTAG + buffer and thats it, then go  
>> full blown debugg, dsPIC no? hassle much stress program to dsPIC  
>> get easily
>> bored and sentence building goes banana in massage!!??!!
>> So, ideas? This pain in arse? No? Full debugg or only demo hello  
>> world? http://se.farnell.com/microchip/dm330011/kit-starter-mplab- 
>> for-dspic/dp/1621788
>
> I've been using the true-blue Microchip ICD2 (hey - kinda rhymes!)  
> lately. I tried the Olimex ICD2 knockoff a few years ago, but  
> switched when I found that it couldn't talk to the 3.3V dsPICs  
> reliably. It was a few $$ cheaper, but somewhat 'raw'. I've got no  
> idea what other sorts of low-end interfaces there are these days.
>
> The main concern I'd have with non-Microchip programmer/debugger  
> interfaces is that they might not work well with the MPLAB  
> development environment. With a genuine ICD2 you can download code  
> to flash as well as run/stop/single-step & examine internal  
> registers. No idea if that's possible with other interfaces.

I use ICD2 too, but mine is a far-eastern knockoff, not a microchip  
original. That said, I've never had a problem with it, and it talks  
to 3.3V chips fine, and downloads code. I've never tried single  
stepping and examining internal registers.

> You've touched on a big difference there - unlike ARM, there really  
> are not any alternatives for development tools in the MCHP world.  
> Since they give the most of the software away though and the  
> hardware is fairly reasonably priced it's not a huge disadvantage.

I have a lot of fun with a £40 clone ICD2 and a breadboard with a £5  
chip on. It isn't expensive.

T.