Mikroc Tutorial

[Nadal Braymiller]

Helloeveryone! This is my first contribution in the field of electronics and technology. Since I am an electronics engineer, I would like to impart my knowledge about PIC programming that I had learned during my college days. This step by step process in making 8 LED light pattern is a basic programming that you can apply when you want to make a Christmas lights in your home. It only depends in your style, in your pattern & the design of light pattern that you want to see. For those who love electronics and technology, I hope you will find it interesting.

A capacitor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores electrical energy in an electric field.The effect of a capacitor is known as capacitance. While some capacitance exists between any two electrical conductors in proximity in a circuit, a capacitor is a component designed to add capacitance to a circuit. The capacitor was originally known as a condenser.

The acronym PIC stands for "peripheral interface controller," although that term is rarely used nowadays.

A microcontroller is a compact microcomputer designed to govern the operation of embedded systems in motor vehicles, robots, office machines, medical devices, mobile radios, vending machines, home appliances, and various other devices. A typical microcontroller includes a processor, memory, and peripherals.

Microcontroller programming means coding of a microcontroller for different purposes in special software. There are lots of software in which we can write different codes for microcontroller and IC Chips. But in this session, we will use the mikro C programming.

Burning a microcontroller means to transfer the coded program from the compiler where compiler is a software where we can write, analyze, test and debug the coded program for a microcontroller, to the microcontroller memory. The coding or program written for microcontroller is generally in assembly/C language and the compiler generates a hex file which is understandable by the microcontroller. The hex file contains special instructions which are to be transferred to the microcontroller memory and then it works according to the given instruction and program.

When we programmed a microcontroller (we will discuss the step by step tutorial on how to program and write the special purpose coding for a microcontroller), then we need it to burn this program to the memory of the microcontroller. For this purpose, we need a hardware which understand and read the contents and programming codes of the hex file stored on our laptop or PC via software. So we connect this hardware via USB cable or serial to the PC/Laptop and transfer the written programming code to the memory of microcontroller and then microcontroller perform the exact function for which the designer and manufacturer designed the microcontroller IC Chip.

Even though the 16F84 is getting on a bit, it is one of the most popular of the PIC microcontrollers and there are hundreds of circuits for it on the web but it does have limited memory, RAM and peripherals (See diagram below). As of 2015 microchip are recommending that you use 16F84A instead of 16F84 with the only difference being that the A-version runs at 20MHz using a 20MHz crystal (the non-A version runs at 10MHz crystal speed only).

Project name, project path (the folder where you want to save the project), the device used which is the PIC16F84A , the clock which is 4 Mhz.

Check the necessary configuration as you can see in the picture. After that click save then click ok.

Each port has TRISX Register which defines that you are using this port for the input or for output.

Where X can be, A, B, C, D, E, F e.g. TRISB.

For output you have to put 0x00 in TRISB and for input you have to put 0xFF in it.

But this is not always the case because each pin can be independently selected as an input or output.

Through microcontroller, we can control different operations of various machines in our industry according to our desired output. In fact, our food that we eat, products and devices that we see were being processed through the use of a microcontroller. Microcontroller is widely use in mobile phones, auto mobile, DVD players, security camera and a lot a more.

I need to modify a C code of an PIC18F4550. I want to use the MPLAB X IDE to do the job because I'm more familiar with it. However, the code that I need to modify is accompanied by an introduction tutorial of programming using the MikroC-Pro. In the tutorial, when it was explaining how to creat a project, it edited the project. So, I noticed a difference between the two IDEs. The MikroC asks for a lot more information like frequency, Oscilator etc... I didn't find how to make a similar configuration in the MPLAB X's project.

In Mplab X install a plugin called "MPLAB Code Configurator" AKA MCC. It allows to configure clock, remappable pins, peripherals, etc. It also generates IO routines for the peripherals with errata workarounds already implemented :-).

So, you've been on the Arduino train for years. You finally had that mind-blowing idea and you want to sell it to the masses! But, you have this development board and you need to make your project cost effective (not contain every component on the Arduino board and on all of the shields globbed onto it).

Better yet, you went out on the job hunt, only to find nobody will hire you because you don't have real coding and product development experience (coding without using ready-made libraries that may be less efficient or doesn't let you get control of the registers and make real efficient state machine interrupt driven code used in critical applications).

Whether you are an engineering student trying to figure all of this stuff out (the tutorials are in plain English and are geared for the beginner) or you are a maker or tinkerer wanting to get to the next level and become unstoppable! This tutorial series is for you!

When you learn from the bare chip, adding components only when you need them on the board, you will have the power to build your own schematics and board layouts, minimizing the components needed in the product design and the size of the board.

When you code from the ground up, making YOUR OWN libraries, you will be in command of the code and you will be able to have full control of how the controller is able to monitor sensors, control peripheral components and devices in response to the sensors, make sure sensing and control is not hindered by code not well thought out (because you are in the drivers seat), and provide communication with protocols that way you want to.

The STM32 ARM Microcontroller has a special calibration value that is provided for each chip form the manufacturer. When using the ADC, you can be sure that the conversion is accurate and in this video, I sow you the code necessary to complete this calibration.

I just added two ADC videos to the instructions area. The first one gives an overview and introduction to ADC, specifically how it relates to the STM32 ARM Microcontroller. The second video shows the first circuit and the preparation of the first program.

Parts 16 and 17 of interfacing the LCD is posted in the instructions. In Parts 16, I add a function to display integers on the LCD. In Part 17, the same type of function is added, but for floating point numbers. Now, all sorts of numbers can be shown on the LCD, like ADC conversions, counters, variables, etc.

Part 13 of how to interface an LCD to the ARM Microcontroller was just added to the instructions section. I first go over a few pragmatic steps to determine if the enable and character output is done correctly. I then go on to add the LCD to the circuit along with the connections to the STM32 microcontroller's pins.

After you get familiar with the powerful ARM microcontroller, you will need to set up your IDE (Integrated Development Environment) where you do the programming and the communications link to the microcontroller. The Sketch Environment is cool and all, but there are a wealth of other IDEs out there that you can use to code. I only show you one way, using the CoIDE by CooCox. This IDE is based around Eclipse, but makes it a bit easier to start.

You will also need to get familiar with the device (ST-Link) used to flash the microcontroller. It's a bit different than the Arduino where you simply plug the USB into the board (the stuff that you would need to remove for your consumer product anyway).

Starting with the GPIO is the easiest and will get you familiar with register level code writing. Don't let the register thing scare you. Imagine you are in front of a big control panel and everything is labeled for you. You will be turning on and off those switches (bits) on sets of controls (registers). Some of the registers relate directly to the actual pins of the ARM microcontroller and some of the registers control the way the pins work, or how internal features of the chip work.

Let's say, you made this awesome program, but you accidentally programmed the programming pins (the pins that are used to flash the chip) as GPIO or other non-programming function. I will post any videos here that relate to solving such problems.

Actually, the 3D mouse is for my design work at buildyourcnc.com designing machines. I use a pen based software called Leonardo (Getleonardo.com) which features an infinite canvas and works well for these videos and all kinds of other things. Love the software.

Hi, currently the download speed for CoIDE is painfully slow (9+ hours). It's not my internet connection, must be their servers. Anyway, do you know of any external mirrors where it is available for download? Thanks.

Wow, that is crazy! I don't personally know of a mirror, unfortunately. I just downloaded the updated 1/17 2017 version and was finished in about 10 minutes. The server must have been choking when you tried.

The Co IDE is closely based around the Eclipse IDE which will run under Linux. I haven't gotten to the depth of modifying the makefile so I haven't tried the Eclipse IDE yet. However, I have seen many examples of others using the Eclipse IDE with the STM32 ARM Microcontroller.

3a8082e126