Flash a Bootloader

[Muffy]

I have a few PIC18F4680 and a few 18F4620.I recently purchased a programmer to program these devices , but unwittingly ended up with a programmer that cannot program the 18F's . The vendor mislead me into making a bad investment.Anyway i was just wondering if theres anybody out there with a programmer for these PICs who wouldn't mind flashing a bootloader for me .

[ash]

Are you talking about the ICSP programmer to load the firmware? You can actually fabricate your own one quite easily using freely available schematics

This link might be useful: Programming 18F2455

[Muffy]

Hi Ash, thank you for the speedy reply and the link.
Well the ICSP isn't exactly what i was looking for , but hey thats not such a bad idea. I could counstruct one, then flash the bootloader ( which is, by the way, a little program which resides in one corner of the PIC's program memory and allows device to be programmed without any hardware but for a serial port and a computer).

[ash]

Haha, no problemo Personally I refer to that bootloader as "firmware", and the computer program which uploads the HEX files into the PIC through the serial port as "bootloader"

What project do you plan to work on with those 18F's?

[Muffy]

Ouch, nonstandard nomenclature can get a little confusing .

The PIC's are a part of a DAQ ( Data Acquisition System), which has a myriad of sensors which interfaces with a laptop to gauges the performance of my motorcar in real time .Im also implementing the salvo RTOS ( Real time operating system) on the chips .

[ash]

Oh, thats awesome! Me checking out Salvo RTOS. I've also got some spare PICs

[EDIT: Man, they seem kinda expensive.. How much did you manage to get them for?]

Would be interesting to see your overall setup Good luck with it!

We plan to use a Linux RTOS in our CE Bot project. If you are free, please drop by at the thread and posts any suggestions
Link: CE Project: CE Bot

[Muffy]

The PICs? Why buy them when microchip has no qualms shipping samples for free ?! They dont even charge for the shipping. Iv got no less than 20 18Fs lying around . Microchip ROCKS! . And Salov has got a free LITE version for students .


Perhaps ill post a few pics once im done,and thanks for the luck. Hope I dont need it though.

The CE Bots pretty cool , youv done a great job with those graphics ash! Ill put in my 2 cents worth sometime..

[ash]

Hehe, thats true what you say about Microchip But unfortunately, they blocked Malaysia of free samples recently (right when I was ordering another small batch!). Ive only ordered 8 PICs last year.. but I think many of my countrymates kinda abused it. So yea

Anyhow, I want to order the PICKit2 from them. Its relatively cheap @ $35.
Link: Welcome to microchipDIRECT

Its a good investment perhaps?

Texas Instruments still works.. they are very generous. Perhaps its been profitable times for them Got some RF components last time.. Unfortunately I got the wrong package type, haha. I'm checking out Freescale. Atmel's still a challenge, but looks possible.

[Muffy]

Ooopsy, tough luck.

Atmels pathatic as far as samples are concerned, its been over 3 weeks since Iv requested for a atmega32s , haven't recieved any response from them .

The PICKit2 an excellent choice if its ur first pic programmer . It can program/debug almost all PICs . Go for it. Its a steal at 35$ compared to the 200$ ICD2 which ,essentially, dose the same thing!



What projects do you intend to do with your PICs?

[ash]

Ah, I see, thanks!

Hm, not sure exactly what to do with them. I want to rig the family home with a grid connected solar (PV) power system (or a stand alone, depends). Of course, I don't have the resources yet.. but one step at a time I guess Might start with a sun tracking PV panel. I'll probably start working on it in next year

If not, probably use it for radio or robotic projects at uni, haha

By the way, I added that Salvo Lite RTOS to the engineering freeware list:
Tip: List of Free Engineering Software

Feel free to add additional free engineering software you have tried