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New data file loader

Hey guys!

I was quite disappointed that this project is on hold, due to the stupid hex parser i wrote :-).

So i sat down yesterday and I have written new "memory" management. It loads memory into linked list instead of continuous memory. It is able to handle sparse HEX files (eg. bootloader with fuses)

So far i have just small testing program implemented, which does reading and writing of hex files. It will need one night work to integrate it back into PiratePICprog.

I hope this will bring back the development to this project ;-)

Re: New data file loader

Reply #1 –
Thanks for taking a look at it. The non-continuous hex parsing has been a hangup.
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Re: New data file loader

Reply #2 –
Hi,
I just tested my creation, and seems to work without problem. :-)
I have made quite a lot changes to the piratepicprog - changes to some structures (iface), fixes of indentation, etc etc...

I am still struggling with some integration of "fuses". The SW needs to know where the fuses are. I thought that fuses are on the same place for one family, but 18f2xFxx family does have fuses on different places.

Few questions come to my mind:
- the fuses should probably be per part as opposed to per family.
- how should fuses be preserved?

on this same device the fuses are part of the last page. How do I verify that the hex file doesn't contain bogus fuses ? Or do I just check the last page and if few last bytes are missing (fuxes) replace them from device flash ?

Re: New data file loader

Reply #3 –
I am trying to come up with some universal write/read routines that can be used for any pic family/chip only by replacing the page read/write functions. I will probably need more write/read functions for different memory types (eg. eeprom, flash, .. etc).

Re: New data file loader

Reply #4 –
Quote
on this same device the fuses are part of the last page. How do I verify that the hex file doesn't contain bogus fuses ? Or do I just check the last page and if few last bytes are missing (fuxes) replace them from device flash ?

I think it will probably need to be info that is part of the PIC info struct. Maybe location and length of fuses? Some 24Fs have 2 or 3 words, some have up to 5. On new chips it is always the last few words of the flash space, on 18Fs and below it is typically in a special location.
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Re: New data file loader

Reply #5 –
Thanks for bringing this up again! I've tried to add 18F r/w support but gave up after a while. I wanted to get back to it again and having someone else on board (that guy being the original creator is awesome) really rocks!

[quote author="ian"]I think it will probably need to be info that is part of the PIC info struct. Maybe location and length of fuses? Some 24Fs have 2 or 3 words, some have up to 5. On new chips it is always the last few words of the flash space, on 18Fs and below it is typically in a special location.[/quote]

I agree with Ian, putting location and length in the struct works best I guess. One can easily get that info from the datasheet when adding a new PIC to the list.

[quote author="robots"]
on this same device the fuses are part of the last page. How do I verify that the hex file doesn't contain bogus fuses ? Or do I just check the last page and if few last bytes are missing (fuxes) replace them from device flash ?[/quote]

I have no idea about this, but I wonder how does PICkit2 program does it. I can do a few tests with that and maybe report you the findings? I still have to install some new programs to my new laptop + semester began today, strange times semester beginnings are.

Re: New data file loader

Reply #6 –
[quote author="tayken"]
[quote author="robots"]
on this same device the fuses are part of the last page. How do I verify that the hex file doesn't contain bogus fuses ? Or do I just check the last page and if few last bytes are missing (fuxes) replace them from device flash ?[/quote]

I have no idea about this, but I wonder how does PICkit2 program does it. I can do a few tests with that and maybe report you the findings? I still have to install some new programs to my new laptop + semester began today, strange times semester beginnings are.[/quote]

I think the MPLAB IDE takes care of validating the fuses. How about adding a default one (or a fuses-mask) to the pic-struct and display a warning when the one in the .hex is different?

Re: New data file loader

Reply #7 –
Hi guys,

I have just commited HUGE changes to the piratepicloader. (HUGE = svn diff was about 2000 lines) Changes are:
- new data loader (fixed bug in hex file generator)
- new memory storage (memory.[hc]), by using simple link-list, and memory cells of size of flash page
- redesigned pic/family/protocol tables to be effective and easier to maintain
- redesigned iface interface to be less generic, and to create less compile time warnings :-)
- created common functions for flash reading and writing (these should be used instead of those "protocol" specific hacked ones :-) )
- created function to preserve fuses, between full memory erase - this is going to need some option on command line.

I haven't updated the "codeblocks" project files, you will probably have to add memory.[hc] to the project.

Also there are tons of TODOs in the code. The code as such is "working". I have successfully erased and programmed my OLS, with full erase. Some debug prints are left in the code (bad me).

What is not working is the binary file generation from read flash, sorry. Only output possible is HEX so far. Will fix soon.

PIC_WriteMemory function is written too simplistic. It should really check whether the address is flash/fuse/eeprom, and call appropriate function according to that. But works for 18f24j50.

Probably last thing that comes to my mind is the coding style... could it be kept consistent ?:-) (tab as tab, not spaces, etc, etc) I am sure that there are good editors that can manage that.

Re: New data file loader

Reply #8 –
OK, I will check this out tomorrow when I have more time. Just updated the trunk and I can see your changes. So on Linux if I go to software folder and run Make, I get the picprog executable. I will do the necessary changes for adding 18f4550 support on files in this folder, is it OK?

Re: New data file loader

Reply #9 –
Did a quick test just now. I was not able to use -I command, it gave me an error. Will add 18F4550 support first (I use this a lot) then if I have time, I'll check out -I command error.

Re: New data file loader

Reply #10 –
-I command is a special one, there is no -I command :-)

It is definitely missing part in tables.

Re: New data file loader

Reply #11 –
Thanks for the update. I'll post this up, there are a few dozen HVP adapters out there. Since you posted this we have sold 2 of the last 3 (no previous sales for months), there must be interest.
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Re: New data file loader

Reply #12 –
It seems that all are gone. Development keeps the business  going :-)

Re: New data file loader

Reply #13 –
I have just committed new changes:
- fixed bug in hex file loader
- fixed memory comparation
- finished bulk memory loading (which was missing and caused data being trashed)
- added binary writer
- added safe_malloc, to simplify memory allocation checks
- changed scope of interface functions interface scope

Re: New data file loader

Reply #14 –
Added 18F4550 support and committed the change. It was really easy as the device is almost similar to 2550 (only id is different, realised this when checking out the datasheet)

Then I did some tests to test it out under Linux (Ubuntu 11.04). Steps are:
- Wrote a hex file (written.hex) with verification (verification failed) using BP
- Read with BP to a hex file (bp_read.hex)
- Read with PicKIT2 to a hex file (pk2_read.hex)

There are differences in all the files but I guess it works. I couldn't understand the verification error but one can see the differences between the written file and read file. Did programming with PicKIT2 and verification passed, the read file is also different from the written file but somehow the program manages to check. Just for your info, all the hex files I used are in the attached zip file.