The guys at mikroElektronika are very well known in the embedded and educational world for their large but inexpensive and well laid out boards for all PIC products. So I had been waiting quite anxiously for their first PIC32 specific board, and here it is!
If you have never seen one of these boards before, you will immediately assume they must cost a fortune, yet they are cheaper than even the simplest of Microchip’s own demo boards!
But it is truly when you get one in your hands that you get to “wow” in surprise!
They are REALLY large, the PCB is thick and sturdy, there is an abundance of I/Os to play with (one LED for each output, one input button for every input pin for example) and all connections are laid out logically, even redundantly, with large easy to handle, pins, clips and contact points to hook your scope to, to expand on a breadboard… in sum to play with!
You can tell that at mikroElektronika they understand how learning happens and the real needs of the “new” user.
To add to the convenience, the new board for the PIC32 offers an on board (USB 2.0 connected) programmer so that whether you use Microchip MPLAB or mikroElektronika software tool sets you will be ready to start experimenting right out of the box and without any further expense!
Highly recommended!