Dear PIC people, is it possible to DIY a PICAXE?
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Steven Pickles
Jul 5, 2012, 9:04:26 PM7/5/12
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Hi PIC people,
I'm curious, is there a freely available firmware that I can burn on to a blank PIC myself to make a PICAXE (I have a PIC programmer)? Or do I have to buy a pre-programmed PICAXE chip?
Thanks,
pix
Ken
Jul 5, 2012, 9:35:54 PM7/5/12
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No, pix.
Picaxe chips cost a little more for that firmware.
Ken.
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Steven Pickles
Jul 5, 2012, 10:02:58 PM7/5/12
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Pfft, lame.
pix ;)
Tamsyn Michael
Jul 6, 2012, 2:24:24 AM7/6/12
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If you decide to get some from somewhere Pix, I'm after a few (3) and the clipin things for them too. Cheers!
Ken
Jul 8, 2012, 10:13:30 PM7/8/12
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Not really, pix.
You have to look at the history of the things.
Picaxe BASIC was developed by Revolution Education in England, for educational use at primary and high school level.
It is great for its target audience.
They are a commercial organisation, so charge a bit on top of each chip for the development and maintenance.
The software tools, manuals, circuit ideas, forum etc, are all provided for free.
They sell kits too, but freight makes those and the micros cheaper to buy from redistributors than from the UK.
Realistically, the difference of around $1-$2 on a raw micro (a guess on my part) and A$4 on a micro, is small cheese in the overall cost of a project.
The startup cost in knowledge and programming hardware is very small as a result of Rev-Ed's efforts.
Contrast that with a raw micro -cheap but programmer & lots of knowledge needed, or an Arduino -relatively expensive, lots of knowledge needed.
I'm not trying to promote Picaxe, but I applaud the concept, and find them easy to use. (Not that I've done much with them.)
Ken.
You have to look at the history of the things.
Picaxe BASIC was developed by Revolution Education in England, for educational use at primary and high school level.
It is great for its target audience.
They are a commercial organisation, so charge a bit on top of each chip for the development and maintenance.
The software tools, manuals, circuit ideas, forum etc, are all provided for free.
They sell kits too, but freight makes those and the micros cheaper to buy from redistributors than from the UK.
Realistically, the difference of around $1-$2 on a raw micro (a guess on my part) and A$4 on a micro, is small cheese in the overall cost of a project.
The startup cost in knowledge and programming hardware is very small as a result of Rev-Ed's efforts.
Contrast that with a raw micro -cheap but programmer & lots of knowledge needed, or an Arduino -relatively expensive, lots of knowledge needed.
I'm not trying to promote Picaxe, but I applaud the concept, and find them easy to use. (Not that I've done much with them.)
Ken.
Steven Pickles
Jul 8, 2012, 10:30:31 PM7/8/12
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yeah but at the moment the picaxe chips seem rare as hens teeth from any suppliers we have found, so when RevEd stop making the chips, the platform dies, and any tutorials based on it become useless.
Arduino is expensive because it comes with the whole dev board, but the firmware is freely available and you can put it on a bare atmel if you want or need to. in fact i first stumbled upon arduino when i was playing with bare AVRs. and i was playing with bare AVRs instead of PICs because i could make a programming cable with a handful of resistors and a hex inverter. i found it recently: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_xiq/7532433492
I guess I'm surprised no one has made an open source PICAXE compatible firmware.
I guess I'm surprised no one has made an open source PICAXE compatible firmware.
pix
Ken
Jul 8, 2012, 10:41:00 PM7/8/12
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There is one guy in the US who has done a Picaxe-BASIC compatible.
But he sells it, or did. Dunno how he fared with Rev-Ed's copyright compaints.
I think the issue is with copyright on Picaxe-BASIC.
Yep, it is dependent on Rev-Ed.
I'd hope that if they closed up shop, they would make everything open-source. A lot of schools in the UK, here, and NZ use them.
But you could make the same claim against Atmel/Pic. Even big companies go out of business, or change what is their 'core business'.
Biggest distributor of Picaxe in Oz is www.microzed.com.au/.
But there are a few others.
In larger quantities, it is practical to buy them from Rev-Ed in the UK. (And if this is in italics, it is because gmail is playing funny buggers on me.)
Ken.
But he sells it, or did. Dunno how he fared with Rev-Ed's copyright compaints.
I think the issue is with copyright on Picaxe-BASIC.
Yep, it is dependent on Rev-Ed.
I'd hope that if they closed up shop, they would make everything open-source. A lot of schools in the UK, here, and NZ use them.
But you could make the same claim against Atmel/Pic. Even big companies go out of business, or change what is their 'core business'.
Biggest distributor of Picaxe in Oz is www.microzed.com.au/.
But there are a few others.
In larger quantities, it is practical to buy them from Rev-Ed in the UK. (And if this is in italics, it is because gmail is playing funny buggers on me.)
Ken.
Tamsyn Michael
Jul 8, 2012, 10:43:31 PM7/8/12
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http://www.voltelectronics.com.au/new-picaxe-reg-08m2-microcontroller.html
Just found these guys who appear to have them in stock.
Just found these guys who appear to have them in stock.
Tamsyn Michael
Jul 8, 2012, 10:49:26 PM7/8/12
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PS - but their postage is ridiculous. Found them on Microzed too. Also, didn't someone say that Aztronics have them in stock? Might have to pass through and check it out.
Ken
Jul 8, 2012, 11:01:25 PM7/8/12
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I believe Aztronics stock some of the Picaxe chips.
Ring before you go to see if they have the one you want.
Ring before you go to see if they have the one you want.
Ken
Jul 8, 2012, 11:16:45 PM7/8/12
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I've bought from this mob before:
http://www.wiltronics.com.au/catalogue/141445/robots-kits-mechatronic-picaxe/picaxe/picaxe-chips
http://www.wiltronics.com.au/catalogue/141445/robots-kits-mechatronic-picaxe/picaxe/picaxe-chips
Damien P
Jul 9, 2012, 7:39:32 AM7/9/12
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Robotgear have the 08Ms in stock.
Tamsyn Michael
Jul 14, 2012, 11:23:43 PM7/14/12
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Hey Pix,
Just stumbled across this:
http://www.kicchip.co.uk/
Which is pretty similar to the picaxe as far as programming is
concerned (I think - it looks similar to my noobish mind anyway) - but
with freely available firmware.
> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/hackerspace-adelaide/-/U4EXQgVyh3YJ.
Just stumbled across this:
http://www.kicchip.co.uk/
Which is pretty similar to the picaxe as far as programming is
concerned (I think - it looks similar to my noobish mind anyway) - but
with freely available firmware.
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