Support for 18FxxJ94

Pret · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 92 Location: Iasi, Romania

I'm looking for a PIC that has more then two USARTs. Apparently, for 8bit, Microchip has only the *J94 series that offer about 4 of them. Unfortunately, for some reason, the CCS does not support this series, even though, I don't think they are quite new.

Is there a possibility to use CCS compiler on this chips, even they are not supported? I'm thinking that I could find a simpler PIC with fewer peripherals that match exactly on registers and memory, and then I'll handle the remaining J94 functionalities directly with manual accessing the registers and such. Is this radically wrong, as concept?

Thanks.

bkamen · Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:35 am

It will be hard if there's no .H file for the the chip you want..

You can always ask CCS to add support for that IC.

I have in the past (when a chip WAS new..) -- In fact, I helped them debug the new chip's implementation.

You should email support.

-Ben
_________________
Dazed and confused? I don't think so. Just "plain lost" will do. :D

temtronic · Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:45 am

You've probably thought of this but...

Perhaps an option would be to add perpiheral UART<>I2C (SPI) device to say a PIC18F46K22 that has 2 UARTS?
I know,more PICs,board space,etc. but if 'time is money ' it would be a viable option as I've done that in the past.

hth
jay

jeremiah · Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Posts: 1328

Does it have to be an 8bit chip? A lot of the PIC24's have 3 or 4 uarts and in some cases they are pin selectable (not fixed pins) which helps with layout.

I've used the following a lot:
PIC24FJ64GA004
PIC24FJ256GA106

Just remember chips with more than 2x UARTs can sometimes be the bigger packages (44+ pins)

Ttelmah · Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Posts: 19358

They are actually just rather new. The data sheets came out in November last year, but only engineering samples were available. They have now switched to 'in production', but only a few weeks ago.
Ask CCS, and they should add support pretty quickly.
I've been playing with a couple, but even for the engineering ones had to wait till January before they came....
I've just ignored the CCS functions and talked directly to the UART. Currently having hassle getting all the peripherals to program.

Best Wishes

Pret · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 92 Location: Iasi, Romania

temtronic, I've thought about 24Fs but this implies a new compiler :(

So, these chips are actually new... I'll send CCS Support a mail asking them about the progress, maybe they can estimate a new release that will support them. Still, since there are new as design, one should be worrying about erratas...

bkamen · Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:04 pm

Pret · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 92 Location: Iasi, Romania

I got a response from CCS about *J94 series: