To start to learn any embedded controller development, we need a development board and a device programmer. Nowadays the development board may be available at very low cost. But still the device programmer costs higher for specific vendors or products. Just to experiment and learn the microcontrolller basics, investing large amount of money is not affordable or viable for all. There are few alternatives which may have limitations in devices support but may fulfil the basic needs of a starter. We may need to change the device firmware and driver to adopt for latest OS like Windows 11.
PIC K150 Programmer for Windows 11The simple programmer to program PIC baseline controllers were originally designed around the year 2007. The original product were still listed in their website
The same product is availble from other sources. But those products comes with few issues.
The PC to programmer communication is achived by PL-2303HX USB-to-Serial Bridge Controller from prolific. This IC is not supported by Windows since 2012.
When the programmer was developed in 2000, the programmer supported the One Time Programmable (OTP) devices and not FLASH based microcontroller.
Now all the baseline ICs are FLASH based and OTP parts no more produced by the manufacturer.
While installing the programmer in Windows 10/11 machine, you will get a prompt saying that the driver IC is phased out and not supported. We need to update the new driver which is available from multiple source.
In the above video you will see how to install the driver for Windows 10/11
The PIC K150 programmer supports smallest Baseline controllers like PIC10F200, PIC10F202, PIC10F204, PIC10F206 etc., through ICSP port. So, we can not insert the ICs in the onboard ZIF-40 socket. and we have to use the ICSP port with an external breadboard or adapters which are readily available.
The following video shows how to set the JUMPER for PIC10F devices and program the device.
If our application are time critical, then we need to note down the OSCCAL value of the IC. Due to very low pin counts, most of the Baseline controllers uses internal RC oscillator. Those OSCCAL values are trimmed with a seven bit value and the best value which is very close to 4MHz is written at the last location of the FLASH. If we are using the OSCCAL, user to read the OSCCAL value from the FLASH and load it into the SFR located at 05h.
The first thing we should do while inserting a controller in PIC K150 is read the device and note down the OSCCAL value which is located at the last location of the FLASH.
If you accidentally or by mistake erase the OSCCAL value, it is difficult and pain to restore the OSCCAL value.
The following shows how to restore the OSCCAL using PICKIT2
There are many way we can restore the OSCCAL. Some are software intensive and some other requires external frequency reference or DSO, Frequency counter etc.,
We can enable the OSCCAL REGISTER bit 0 which enables INTOSC/4 appears at GP2. This frequency can be measured by an oscilloscope or frequency counter to ensure the OSCCAL value is close to 4 MHz.
FIRMWARE UPGRADE:
To upgrade the on board PIC16F628A controller, we need a blank and new PIC16F628A. We can use the same PIC K150 for updating the PIC16F628A.
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