The Shop > Electronics & IC Programing
EasyPIC-6 Development Board by MikroElectronica - Take"2"
raynerd:
The other thread got polluted because of the issues with the video. There really is little of any use in that thread other than the mutal appreciation that Big Bro really is watching us! So here is "Take2" and hopefully some PIC programming related discussion to follow...?
Hi Guys
I got my EasyPIC 6 dev board a few days ago and I`m thrilled with it. It really is a super slick bit of kit! Ease of use is just immense! I had it running and programming within about 5 minutes of plugging it in and installing MikroC.
Here is my vid of a few clips of me playing around with the board and its functions:
I`m not going to do a huge review as there are already a few out there by people much more knowledgeable than me but I`m just going to mention some of the bits that I like ...
This board has an inbuilt COG LCD display so a display is always on hand:
It of course has the LCD port as well so you can have a second display (or more likely use the COG for debugging). Mikro only sell a 2 x 20 char display but I purchased a couple of 4x20 LCDs of ebay for about £5 and my mate soldered a standard IDE socket on the back - it plugs into the board just fine. You can see it in use in the video along with the COG.
It also has an expansion port, which obviously expands the number of available ports. As of yet I`ve never filled the available pins on a 40 pin PIC so have no use for it yet but it does the job. The COG is actually attached to this so you have to enable the expansion port to get the COG to work.
Also, the easyPic6 has the new matrix keypad which is a really smart extra! Along with the direction and button pad below. I am sure this will come in very useful and saves having to buy the add-on matrix pad.
It also has some "cool" improvements over the earlier models such as an ice blue "program" LED - which of course makes programming go much more smoothly :lol:
I have just purchased the G-LCD with touch screen adaptor but as of yet I`ve not even plugged it in. I`ve heard very good things about it.
I have seen the Arduino development boards a few weeks ago and had the opportunity to play around with one for a couple of hours and for both ease of use and actual board content, the Mikroelectronica stuff blew it away in comparison - IMO!
dsquire:
Craynerd
It came through loud and clear across the pond. I'm going to follow this close as I want to play around a bit with some of this stuff. Just have to make up my mind and get started I guess. :D :D
Cheers :beer:
Don
raynerd:
Don, I really advise you go for Mikroelectronica stuff, the Arduino stuff is popular but in my opinion, not as easy to use. The functionality of the EasyPIC is just amazing. I was in the very fortunate position that my friend is incredible in programming and has a number of development boards, I got the option to try a few out before I committed my money. I spent hours with Ardunio and hours with Mikroelectronica as well as some of the Chinese imports on ebay.
For £115, the EasyPIC 5 comes with a 16F887 PIC and USB cable and from there you only really need an LCD (£5 for 4 line on ebay or £14 for 2 line!!?? from Mikro) and you have an amazing bit of kit. Infact, with the EP6 having the onboard COG LCD display, you don`t even need the add-on LCD.
I`m probably talking to a Professional programmer, Don, but if you are total noob like me, as you said you just need to go in and buy one. There is so much info and programmes on the web to get you going.
If you haven`t already, download the free MikroC programming software and give some coding a go.....that is presuming you want to go down the C route.
http://www.mikroe.com/download/c_pic_pro.php
It is free up to 2K of code (if you want a full version PM me and I`ll let you know the cheapest seller)
Chris
dsquire:
Chris
Thanks for the reply and info.
Your partially right. I am a programmer. I once got a computer to say HI to me. Never did get paid for it so guess not a professional. :lol: :lol: :lol:
I have a couple of bit and pieces laying around here that I should dig out and what I really have. I know that I have a couple of displays and an assortment of chips and transistors etc. I don't have anything definite that I want to build, Just something to play around with when I feel like it. I am going to go and have a look at MikroC software and see what that is about. :D :D
Cheers :beer:
Don
raynerd:
Don, I don`t know how you managed to make 'head nor tail' of the message above. I think I was half drunk by the looks of it when I wrote it! I have since edited....anyway back on topic.
Although I am making my X-axis controller and now have plans for a Techo with built in display for all my machines, I didn`t really have much of a focus when I first looked into it. I know I was certainly so limited with my understanding when I first started that any efforts of a complex programe would have been impossible anyway.
In actual fact I`ve given the advice to you that infurated me when I got given it. The problem I had when I was told to download MikroC without the development board is that you can`t test your code and this really frustrated me!! :bang: That is why the dev boards are so good, you just re-program the chip and you can immediately test your changes. Since the PICs can be recoded 10,000 times and are only £4 for the best ones (£1.00 for smaller models), you can test test test.
If you do have a go at writing some code after downloading Mikro C - download :
http://www.mikroe.com/zip/easypic6/easypic6_examples_v101.zip
and open the 16F887 examples folder and if you base your code around this PIC (887) I can easily blow it to the PIC for you and send you a short vid of how its working - from flashing an LED to a fully integrated 4 axis touch screen controller :) ... just email or post up the code.
Like you said, they are amazing to play around with even without a clear use for them! I`m currently trying a few projects including a binary clock based on a 32khz crystal, a 6x6 led matrix hopefully expanding to a 6x6x6 cube chaser and my X-axis controller. The first two being almost entirely pointless....but makes me happy :headbang: :D :)
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