PICStart 16B1 and the newer 16F series PICs
David Albrecht
I recently obtained a Microchip Picstart 16b1 "Development
Programmer" from ebay. (Got at a good price.) I have programmed the
Microchip 16C series of PICs with this programmer, and now I would
like to try the more featureful 16F870 and friends.
According to page one of the PIC16F870 data sheet, the 16F8XX pics
are "Pinout compatible to the PIC16CXXX 28 and 40-pin devices",
meaning that the PIC should physically fit into the programming
socket on the picstart. Indeed, after having ordered the newer pic,
it does fit, and I assume it also gets power and the other things it
needs for programming in the same manner as the 16C series. I have
read the end of the data sheets for both the 16C and 16F series, and
they seem to describe a programming procedure that is almost exactly
alike.
However, Microchip has officially stopped supporting the 16B
programmers. I can't much blame them, it was manufactured in 1994. As
such, the MPLAB IDE product does not communicate with the older
programmer that I have. The only way I can program PICs (that I know
of) is via a DOS-based application (which I do not have the source
to, at least yet, and cannot tell how the program communicates with
the programmer) which does not offer the option of programming the
16F series, only a number of PICs in the 16C series.
I think newfound electronics used to sell some sort of firmware
upgrade to allow the upgrade of the 16b1 to a picstart plus. I keep
hearing about the upgrade procedure but am not exactly certain what I
need to do to complete this task. However, I have tried to get
information on this for a while, and have not had success.
Sorry about the length getting a bit out of control. Any info would
be helpful.
David R. Albrecht
NoS...@att.net
there are a number of freebie development programmers and associated
software available. I built the (very simple!) NOPPP programmer with
which I burned 16F86 and 16F86A. A month or so ago I moved up to the
16F628, and I burn that with NOPPP hardware and David Tait's FPPDOS
software.
Craig Powers
Albrecht <past...@excite.com> writes
>Hello all.
>
>I think newfound electronics used to sell some sort of firmware
>upgrade to allow the upgrade of the 16b1 to a picstart plus. I keep
>hearing about the upgrade procedure but am not exactly certain what I
>need to do to complete this task. However, I have tried to get
>information on this for a while, and have not had success.
I've not looked into this one fully, but the PIC-Start programmer itself
has a PIC in it. You can download the latest programmer s/w from
Microchip's website, blow the code into the new PIC and you can then
install the upgraded chip into the programmer.
The chip is 40 pin I recall, 17C44 I think. Probably your Pic-start
won't be compatible with these, but you may be able to get someone to
blow a copy for you and his may just work. I need to do his to make my
PIC-start compatible with later PICs, but have not got the time to get
onto it just yet. Exams & study prevents!
Sorry its all vague, but 2 yrs since I last was on this stuff.
Craig Powers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Powers cr...@real-time-sys.demon.co.uk
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Newfound
Please understand the 16B was NEVER spec'ed to program ANY of the 16Cxxx
14-bit
core parts and even if you located suitable firmware you CANNOT program
any
28-pin pic other than the 16C5x parts in the 28-pin socket. Don't even
think about it.
The picstart 16C was designed for the 28-pin (14-bit core) and 40-pin
pics however
I believe there was never picstart 16C support for the 16Fxxx parts .
If you located the pheonix firmware for the 16B somewhere please note
that you
must wire an adapter. See my web site for the adapter chart.
Also, ignore any comments about microchip and hex file upgrades. They do
not exist
for the 16B or 16C.
-Jim