OpenPicus is working on open source wireless hardware and a free application development platform. The current WIFI hardware has a PIC 24FJ256GA106 microcontroller, and an MRF24WB0MA module provides the wireless. An Arduino-like IDE has libraries and frameworks to simplify wireless development. If you have the grit to develop a wireless app without a proper debugging […]
Category Archives: PIC
PIC 12F675 battery monitor using a diode/LED and resistor
Here’s a circuit by Joe Desbonnet’s Random Tech Stuff that’s designed to monitor battery voltage. It uses one resistor, one diode (or LED), one microcontroller ADC input and one digital output. A practical application using a PIC 12F675 is presented. This allows you to monitor battery voltage under load, allowing sufficient time to replace the […]
MPLAB X contest
Microchip appreciates your feedback on MPLAB X and wants to reward you! Enter to win a variety prizes when you complete this sweepstakes form and participate in the MPLAB X User Forum each week! You could win MPLAB X t-shirts, coffee mugs, playing cards and more! Winners will be chosen randomly.
Secure usb time stamp
Simon Inns created a secure USB time stamp device. This project implements a USB device which provides a real-time clock for the purpose of time-stamping events in an non-networked embedded computer environment. For embedded applications where a periodic time-stamp is required (such as entry-system logs, configuration audit logs, etc.) it is necessary to have a […]
Microstick dev board for dsPIC33F and PIC24H
The Microchip Microstick for dsPIC33F and PIC24H is a DIP socketed development environment for the dsPIC33FJ64MC802 and PIC24HJ64GP502 16-bit digital signal controller and microcontroller. The board is USB powered with an integrated programmer/debugger, an onboard debug LED, utility LED and reset switch. Pin header spacing is 0.025″. List price is $24.99 from Microchip Direct. Check […]
APRS homebrew digital radio interface
Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) is a digital data communications system often used by amateur radio operators in the 2-Meter FM band. You may hear such data transmissions on 144.390 MHz FM and other frequencies. DK7IN has published an interesting project which promises to let you transmit APRS data when connected to a licensed amateur […]
picoBAT: ultrasonic bat detector
Think you have bats in the belfry? If you have a PIC 12F683, ultrasonic piezo receiver and piezo speaker, micro-examples has a project that purports to detect the presence of bats and sound a piezo alarm. The schematic and C source are available for download. We can envision a modification which would transmit an alert […]
Real-Time audio spectrum analyser
Here’s an application using FFT on an PIC18F4550 8-bit microcontroller: This project implements a real-time audio spectrum analyser using a PIC18F4550 8-bit microcontroller. The spectrum frequency analysis is performed by a highly optimised 16-bit Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) routine coded entirely in C. The output from the FFT is displayed using a 128×64 graphical LCD […]
Minimalistic LED dice
This dice by Rickard Gunee is interesting because it uses one of the smallest microcontrollers, a 6-pin PIC10F200. With 4 GPIO it’s just one pin more than the voltage regulator. Using multiplexing it controls 4 strings of LEDs and even one input button. The whole project is open source and also available as kit.
MPLABX C18 now available for Mac OSX
The MPLAB C18 Lite (mplabc18-v3.37a) compiler for PIC18 MCUs is now available for the MPLAB X Mac OSX version. Microchip released a new version of MPLAB X Beta IDE Beta Ver. 4.1 for Win32, as well. Thanks IPenguin! Via the forum.
Simple open source DIY MP3 player
We love homemade SMD boards. This simple MP3 player is based on the VS1011 MP3 decoder chip, with a PIC 16LF88 feeding it bytes from an SD card. Nice work! New to PIC 16F? Check out our PIC quick start guide, it’s got the minimum circuit you’ll need to get running with a PIC today. […]
Bus Pirate PIC programming adapter back in stock
The Bus Pirate PIC programming adapter is back in stock at Seeed. It’s still intended for developers only, and there isn’t any software support. We increased the price on this batch to the ‘normal’ $12. Get the adapter here.
Processor quick start guides
The new processor quick start guides were a big hit. Maff^ contributed a basic guide to the AVR, and Dpropicweb greatly expanded the PIC guides. We finished the MSP430 guide, and added new guides for the Coolrunner-II CPLD and Spartan 3 FPGA (in progress). Check out all the guides, and add one for your favorite […]
Processor quick start guides
Getting started with a new processor family is a minefield. Our new quick start guides for the PIC, LPC ARM, and STM32 ARM, are a collection of notes on these processor families. If you’re already familiar with one processor, these condensed guides can help you get started on a whole new platform without scouring the […]
MPLAB X beta 4
MPLAB X beta 4 is available for download. MPLAB X is the next version of the Microchip development software for PIC microcontrollers, and the first with Linux and Mac support. Check out our MPLAB X wiki for tips, and add some notes of your own. Thanks Eric! Via the forum.
Test a Bus Pirate firmware compiled with MPLAB X
doegox compiled a Bus Pirate firmware with optimizations in MPLAB X. With optimizations enabled the main firmware can fit all the add-on modes. We need some help checking if the optimizations broke anything, please test it if you have an opportunity. You can get your own handy Bus Pirate for $30, including world-wide shipping. Also […]
Open source PIC USB demo for the IR Toy
Honken has an updated open source USB firmware for PIC microcontrollers. We ported the update to the IR Toy, you can load it up and test it yourself using the bootloader. This version is much more robust, and a number of bugs were squashed. The first character sent is no longer lost, and strings of […]
Bus Pirate PIC programming adapter sold out
The Bus Pirate PIC programming adapters we made for developers are already gone. Seeed Studio is working on a couple more, in case some potential developers missed out. We started with a cautious 20 units, just for developers. We expected 20 to last a long time, since it’s totally unsupported hardware. Now we’re wondering where […]
Bus Pirate PIC programming adapter
An experimental PIC programming adapter for the Bus Pirate is now available for $7 at Seeed Studio. This is unproven green label hardware. Only buy this if you want to contribute to PIC programming applications like piratePICprog. There is NO software support, and the final hardware will be slightly different. If you need this for […]
Programming PICs with a programmer
A new tutorial covers the basics of programming a PIC with a PIC programmer supported by MPLAB, like a PICkit or ICD. This frequently-requested tutorial is geared towards programming the bootloader into a project like the Bus Pirate. Bootloaders make it easy to upgrade firmware without dragging out (or owning) a programmer. Just activate the […]