Hi, any advice for me?

[emon]

I am a total newbie:) to C language and am looking at the PIC16F877A Development Kit plus a bunch of books! I have a couple of questions maybes omebody could point me in the right direction...

I want to get the dev board with the plcc pack for my first trys and then move to a better developement board with more options before I go shooting my own board... so,

Is this kit compatable with the picdem 2 board from microchip? I would like to use it for the LCD functionality as well as the ability to use DIP pics.

Can the in circuit programmer program the pics through the picdem board or will i need to use mplab to upload the hex code?

How easy is this to learn for someone who has minimal programming experience with any language but a firm grasp in electronics and microprocessors? I have used Basic a bit and years ago some fortran, but never more than simple intro programs.

Will you guys be nice to me with my stupid question posts!?

Thanks for any advice!!

[PCM programmer]

Here are the two most common choices that you can take
for a development environment with the CCS compiler:

CCS
Compiler with IDE: PCW or PCWH
Hardware Debugger: ICDU-40

Microchip
Compiler: CCS command line (PCM and/or PCH)
IDE: MPLAB
Hardware Debugger: ICD2

[emon]

how compatible are they? IE can I buy the whole suite from CCS and then use the Mplab programmer?

I typically would think that using all from one manufactor would be the ideal solution... but am clueless on either product.

[PCM programmer]

The CCS IDE only supports the CCS ICD debugger.
Microchip MPLAB only supports their ICD2 debugger.
You can't use a debugger with the other company's IDE.


Edit:
Now you can use ICD2 with the CCS IDE. See this page for instructions:
http://www.ccsinfo.com/faq.php?page=icd2_real_ice

[emon]

ok Thanks!!

Last quick question... the demo board from microchip should be compatible with CCS right? It appears the same physical connections should be made regardless of which software version you use.

I would like to have both the MC picdemo 2 plus board and the CCS board included with their kit. I just don't want to buy it if it would be useless. And I do want to be able to use something where I can program dip packages or at least program them on an old epic we have and then test in the demo board.

[PCM programmer]

The ICD connector pinout is essentially the same for both boards.

CCS doesn't make their product manuals available for download,
so I can't look at a schematic of their 16F877A development board.
But I think it's likely that pin B3 on the PIC goes to pin 6 on the ICD
connector on that board. The CCS tools use that pin for a software
UART for optional terminal output during debugging.

Microchip doesn't have that feature and there's no connection
between pin B3 of the PIC sockets and the ICD2 connector
on the PICDem2-Plus board. However, you could easily add
a jumper on the back of the board to add support.

But I don't think this back-channel debug terminal output feature
is very important. I wouldn't make a decision just based on it.

[emon]

sorry more questions...

does CCS C include built in libraries so you can do simple coding such as:

I2CWRITE or LCDOUT for example whereas you do not need to program the specific function each time. I am looking at picbasicpro or this product.

picbasic seems so easy it is hard to imagine it is very powerful. It seems CCS would be a better way to go long term?? Is this an accurate read?

It does seem nice to have the built in libraries... right?

[PCM programmer]

For a list of all built-in functions, driver source code, and example files,
go to this CCS website page:
http://www.ccsinfo.com/content.php?page=compilers
Click on the links for "built-in functions" and "example programs".

[Mark]

Also, there is no need to program with the epic programmer. The ICD will program the chip for you.

[emon]

Cool I hadn't found that page!

Thanks a lot for your help. I am placing my order today.

[Darren Rook]