I have just added to the repository (link) support for the PIC32MX7 on the Mikroe MX7 Multimedia board.
This is obviously the richest board available and it allows Python to use 120KBytes + of RAM.
Makes me wonder what kind of applications would fill all that space … pygame?
I have finally gotten my hands back on the Pymite project and I have updated the v10 branch to include three PIC32 platform.
Both the Mini-32 and the PIC32 Mikromedia are now supporting a USB (CDC) serial interface to the interactive prompt (IPM)
All the code is now working in MPLAB X with the XC 32 compiler (1.20) and uses the MLA 2013-02-15 release for USB, Graphics, File I/O etc.
You can find a clone of the updated project on: http://code.google.com/r/luciodijasio-v10
Enjoy
In the process of updating the projects in the PIC32 book (“Programming 32-bit microcontrollers in C”) to the latest and greatest version of MPLAB X and the XC32 compiler, I have decided to adopt a proper versioning tool (Mercurial aka Hg) and to make the repository public with BitBucket… [Edit 2019] All repositories have been migrated to Github!
Being a proper versioning system, once you download the code, you will be able to stay connected and receive updates and fixes as they become available, give it a try…
I have just received from a friend a link to a piece of the history of the first “singe chip calculator”: http://www.spingal.plus.com/micro/
The web page is titled “Microprocessor History” and tells the story of what was research and development work done by a little know company, called PICOElectronics Ltd, in Scotland in the late 1960’s.
Now, while I am not particularly interested in the debate wether they managed to beat INTEL to the punch, I found some of the details extremely curious for how this work seems to be eventually traveling across the world to NY first where General Instruments had its headquarters (PICO Electronics used GI to manufacture their chips) and later to a new (in those days) factory in Arizona! Among the many products developed in those years were the very first video games (Pong) components.
What a coincidence, that factory eventually was sold by GI to a group of private investors funded by venture capital (Sequoia) who created: Microchip Technology Inc.
Their first microcontroller product was then called the PIC!
MPLAB X is evolving, and this means that new features are being added at every release. Sadly some old features that have been with us since the early days of MPLAB have gone the way of the dodo.
Animate is one of them. I used it in all my books in the very first chapters, when showing how to use the simulator and mostly in the first simple loops. At the time I was writing the second edition of the Flying PIC24 book (Programming 16-bit microcontrollers in C), it was still available in what was one of the last betas ( beta 7 or 8 ) but it has disappeared shortly after.
I am told there is a simple replacement for it: if you stick a paper clip near the F7 key on your keyboard, you get a very similar result !?
Note for Mac users: You will need a second paperclip to keep the Fn key down as well
I have received a couple of requests recently for support interfacing a PIC32 or a PIC24 to some popular MP3 decoders/codecs from VLSI technology. Since I had a PIC24 MicroMedia board on my desk that begged to be used, I took the opportunity to give it a test ride and put the VS1011E chip to its pace.
I started using MPLAB X since the very first betas were made available so I have eventually acquired a little confidence with the tool. Occasionally though I can still find myself hunting around for a feature/configuration parameter that is not where it used to be (in MPLAB 8). Eventually it just takes a little random probing around in the configuration dialog boxes and the many sub-panes… it’s all there!
I have recently re-discovered Youtube. In a sense I have been on a learning path for several years now and I have changed my perspective on this “tool” multiple times.
In the beginning there was the enthusiasm about the new media. I spent a lot of time browsing randomly and letting Youtube dictate passively where to go next from a bad video to a worse one.
Later I tried to create a little content of my own, but I was just tasting the waters to see how difficult it could be and more or less a “show off” thing: Look mom I can do a Rubik cube with the PIC32!
Then came Apple’s iTuneU, where I got a glimpse of a future I liked better.
Then I got back to Youtube, thanks to the GoogleTalks, where I realized it is finally proven that quality content can be made available to all without necessarily the restrictions and all the traps (that Apple loves to build around its products).
Here just one excellent example that made my day: How to design a good API and why it matters – Joshua Bloch
I guess I will need to learn now how to properly use Youtube Channels, and continue on the path of enlightenment. Maybe one day I will even get to appreciate Tweeter?
Every now and then I get a chance to talk to the guys at Mikroe and they never fail to surprise me, both for the amount of work they get done in a short time and most importantly the quality of it.
Here is a quick update on projects they completed since I last met with them in Nuremberg during the Embedded World show.
Also they added WiFi software support for MRF24WB0MA in bundle with MCW1001:
The support package can be found on Libstock: http://www.libstock.com/projects/view/356/network-wifi-library
Quite impressive!
