Pilot's Logbook

In Chapter 6 of the PIC32 book I briefly mention that the PIC32 differs from all previous PIC microcontrollers since it offers a Von Neumann programming model as opposed to the Harvard model adopted by all previous Microchip architectures.   Then, in a note I remind all the readers that the core of the PIC32 (MIPS M4K) is Harvard based. More than one reader has written back to me to report the apparent contradiction, while in fact there is none. Let’s see if I can make things clearer …

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It has been almost three full months since my last posting and you might have been wondering what happened … I have only a few excuses, but good ones:

1. I moved back to the old continent, I am now writing this from Munich, Germany
2. I changed job (a bit), while still working for Microchip, I am now responsible for the marketing of 32-bit microcontrollers in Europe, Middle East and Africa. This of course requires quite a bit of traveling.
3. But perhaps the most important one is my new “project”, my son Luca, who is now 10 months old and absorbing ALL that is left of my wake time.

In this last few months I have received tons of email, (I love emails from my readers) and tried to respond to most of them. Some of you have been reporting about typos in the books and/or issues with new versions of the compilers and libraries. Others have brought up interesting ideas and questions that I plan on using in the future postings. Slowly, I will try to cover all the backlog and get back live.

Stay tuned!

P.S.: For those among you who are old enough to remember the Blues Brothers movie, here is Jake’s (Jim Belushi) original list of excuses:

1. I ran outta gas.
2. I had a flat tire.
3. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare.
4. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners.
5. An old friend came in from outta town.
6. Someone stole my car.
7. There was an earthquake,
8. … a terrible flood,
9. …locust’s.
10. It wasn’t my fault!!

The last two days of the Masters ’08 have been such a rush that I could not possibly find the time to write any more postings during the day, and I was too exhausted, once back home, to write the night. For two days I was on duty in the “ask the experts” area behind the PIC32 table playing with a few demos derived from the last few chapters of the book(s). I met with so many PIC users/enthusiasts that I cannot possibly write about all of them and their projects/ideas. Perhaps the funniest things that happened though is when one of them, (a veteran of several Masters) after checking out a few colorful PIC32 graphic demos, lying on the table in front of me, had a sudden epiphany, looked up and with eyes of stupor and a wide smile exclaimed: “But… it is not a dsPIC!”

It had never dawned on me that someone could have had this (wrong) impression. It is true, the official marketing campaign of the PIC32 talks a lot about pin-out and software compatibility with Microchip 16-bit architecture (although when you look closely it is the PIC24F and in particular the GA0 series that all the documentation keeps referring to). Not to mention that the part number being “surrounded” by the dsPIC30 and the (ill named) dsPIC33 can further confuse the matter.

Once I reassured him that the PIC32 was a very simple, general purpose, 32-bit microcontroller that just happened to run C code very fast, I saw him sigh with relief. He grabbed a copy of the brochure and disappeared rapidly in the crowd heading toward the development tools counter.

Did you happen to think the same? Let me know, because we certainly never meant it to be!