Author Topic: Cheap PSoC4 progremmer (Read 33252 times)

Dajgoro · « **on:** March 02, 2015, 04:28:35 pm »

Hi.

A while ago I got the PSoC4 4$ devboard, and I really like the PSoC concept.
The devboard has an bootloader so it can load stuff via serial.
I would like to design some devices that would use the bare chip, but I can't figure out what programmer to buy. There is the MiniProg3 but that is like 150$, witch is waaay over my current budget.
Is there a cheap cheat programmer/jtag like those avrdude gizmos for the avr-s?

dferyance · « **Reply #1 on:** March 02, 2015, 05:46:08 pm »

The MiniProg3 is expensive but not $150 (http://www.cypress.com/?rID=38154). My understanding is some people have been able to modify the pioneer kit and use its programming device to program other chips. This is pretty cheap and while it isn't as easy, it might fit the bill. Also rumor is, Cypress is working on a cheaper programmer but I have no idea when it is coming out.

jeremy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 02, 2015, 06:45:45 pm »

It's coming soon: http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

miguelvp · « **Reply #3 on:** March 02, 2015, 06:56:08 pm »

While you are waiting for the $50 PRoC mouse or remote control kit with the miniprog3 here is a quick tutorial how to use the $4 prototype board to program bare devices:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/psoc-examples/msg522554/#msg522554

Also you can use the Pioneer kit to use as a programmer for $25 and some soldering, or use the old code they released to convert it to a programmer debugger but it won't be on the last release of the kitprog code, so modifying it to be used as a programmer is the best solution.

miguelvp · « **Reply #4 on:** March 02, 2015, 06:59:42 pm »

Quote from: jeremy on March 02, 2015, 06:45:45 pm

It's coming soon: http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

Nice! not just because it can be a programmer, but a 5LP prototype board at $10 opens a lot of other possibilities. Like full USB support as an HID, Midi etc instead of the limited 4200.

Edit: and DMA support!

jeremy · « **Reply #5 on:** March 02, 2015, 07:43:31 pm »

and a 20 bit A/D!

dferyance · « **Reply #6 on:** March 02, 2015, 07:49:40 pm »

No kidding that is impressive! The unit price for the chip on that board is more than the board itself. Cypress must really think that getting these kits out there will be worthwhile.

Rory · « **Reply #7 on:** March 02, 2015, 07:59:56 pm »

The page says you can snap off the Kitprog and use it as a standalone programmer/debugger. Nice!

vvanders · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2015, 03:37:48 am »

I've been wanting to get my hands on a PSoC5 kit for a while, that's a no brainer at $10.

I wonder if it has full debug capability or just bootloader based like the other prototype kits.

(edit, yup, debugging on the device via SWD, what a steal).

miguelvp · « **Reply #9 on:** March 03, 2015, 03:55:59 am »

I just noticed something, the actual programmer is a 2nd 5LP as well!
I though it would be a USB-Serial Bridge and that the kitprog will live in the target 5LP, so you really can end up with two programmers for $10

Nice touch that they added a micro usb and they have the unpopulated 10 pin programming header on the target board part.

I guess I will have to look at the details of the programmer chip so see what capabilities it has compared to the target chip.

Edit: confirmed, the PSoC 4 Pioneer Kit came with the following chips:
CY8C5868LTI-LP039 (PSoC 5LP programmer)
CY8C4245AXI-483 (PSoC 4200 target)

The PSoC 5LP Prototyping Kit has the following:
CY8C5868LTI-LP039 (PSoC 5LP programmer)
CY8C5888LTI-LP097 (PSoC 5LP target)

The main difference as far as I can see on the two 5LP chips in the prototyping board, is that the programmer can run up to 67MHz and the target can go up to 80MHz, and each chip is about $10 qty 1000!

miguelvp · « **Reply #10 on:** March 03, 2015, 04:57:14 am »

And of course, both 5LPs in the prototype board are Cortex-M3s

The BOM is north of $25 if you made it yourself, so I expect these boards to sell like hotcakes!

Even with the low number of GPIOs exposed on the programming part, that is still quite a powerful small board even if you don't use it as a programmer.

Dajgoro · « **Reply #11 on:** March 03, 2015, 06:15:31 am »

How soon is the 10$ module coming "soon" exactly? Years, months, weeks, days?

miguelvp · « **Reply #12 on:** March 03, 2015, 06:36:05 am »

Quote from: Dajgoro on March 03, 2015, 06:15:31 am

How soon is the 10$ module coming "soon" exactly? Years, months, weeks, days?

Well, I've been waiting for the PRoC remote control kit over three months, maybe you can PM
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=101659

In the meantime, you can use the $4 prototype kit to program bare chips as I linked above.

As an alternative you can get a pioneer kit and modify it with a soldering iron to make a kitprog for $25. I did purchase a 2nd one to do that but now that this is coming I think I can wait because I do have one running a modified kitprog source based on an old version and it still works:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/help!-what-mcu-(greater-than-8-bits-of-smarts)-is-easiest-to-graduate-to/msg507751/#msg507751

But if you want the updated version of the kitprog (no source for the last version available) you can make a programmer with that pioneer kit running the latest version of kitprog, with full programming and debug.

It also allowed me to use keil to program and debug a virgin PSoC4 with the free and limited to 32K uVision 4:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/psoc-examples/msg529947/#msg529947

But if you do send them a PM, let us know if they do have a hard date. I think I'll send them one myself and link this thread as well.

Edit: sent the PM to CypressPSoC in this forum regarding when this board as well as when the PRoC BLE mouse and IR remote kits will be available.

jeremy · « **Reply #13 on:** March 03, 2015, 06:49:50 am »

I've already tried to contact them, waiting for a more detailed response.

miguelvp · « **Reply #14 on:** March 07, 2015, 08:23:55 am »

Seems like they are taking pre-orders for the CY8CKIT-059 PSoC® 5LP Prototyping Kit

http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

Ordered 4 of them + $12 shipping within the US, because that's the cheapest they offer via FedEx and seems silly to pay $25 for next day on a pre-order and that was the only other choice.

Can't wait!!!!

Dajgoro · « **Reply #15 on:** March 07, 2015, 06:20:58 pm »

International - FedEx International Economy: $25.00 Uff!
When I ordered those 4$ modules shipping was cheaper if I remember correctly!

miguelvp · « **Reply #16 on:** March 07, 2015, 06:45:58 pm »

Yeah, like most manufacturers they don't have a lot of shipping options since these are considered sample orders.

The way I see it is that one of those boards has 2 PSoC 5LP on them, exact specs other than the programmer one has less pins accessible and can run only up to 67MHz compared to the target one that has a ton of pins (8 more than the PSoC 4200 prototype boards) and each of the 5LPs cost $10 per chip at quantity 1000 purchase.

So the BOM puts them at around $25 per board so with shipping and ordering 4, I'm paying only half of what they cost.

Another way to look at it, is that ordering 4 of them you get the equivalent of 8 miniprog3s for half the price of a single miniprog3 sans 10 pin connector and cable.

But they are pre-order with no time given when they'll ship so I'm not holding my breath.
You can always wait until they make it to the distribution channels and get it from farnell or the like.

neslekkim · « **Reply #17 on:** March 07, 2015, 07:56:36 pm »

Wish they had the other BLE kits ready so one could order all at same time, then the shipping, and the following 25% tax wouldn't hurt so bad

Laurynas · « **Reply #18 on:** March 08, 2015, 09:17:04 pm »

When launched, it was 25$ for those 4$ PSoC kits also, but they changed it to 15$ after I complained - try writing them an email, I wouldn't be surprised if they will set it to 15$ again

jeremy · « **Reply #19 on:** March 08, 2015, 09:18:17 pm »

Estimated release date is mid April. Just got a response.

miguelvp · « **Reply #20 on:** March 09, 2015, 10:39:42 am »

About the BLE and their introduction of the PRoC.

Well someone in marketing was not thinking when they came up with PRoC.

They have their: "PSoC Rocks!" marketing slogan.

So what about PRoC?

Laurynas · « **Reply #21 on:** March 09, 2015, 02:32:50 pm »

i see what they did here

if
PSoC Rocks!
then
PRoC S*cks!

compared to PSoC it probably does, so their get a point for being honest

mhelin · « **Reply #22 on:** March 09, 2015, 06:47:48 pm »

Quote from: miguelvp on March 07, 2015, 08:23:55 am

Seems like they are taking pre-orders for the CY8CKIT-059 PSoC® 5LP Prototyping Kit

http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038

Ordered 4 of them + $12 shipping within the US, because that's the cheapest they offer via FedEx and seems silly to pay $25 for next day on a pre-order and that was the only other choice.

Can't wait!!!!

Seems they are no more taking the pre-orders, guess the first batch is already sold out.

CypressPSoC · « **Reply #23 on:** March 11, 2015, 12:09:13 am »

Hello folks!

Yes, we have a brand new low-cost prototyping kit featuring not one, but two ARM Cortex-M3 PSoC 5LP devices on it - all for $10!
http://www.cypress.com/cy8ckit-059

One of the PSoC 5LP devices comes pre-programmed as a programmer and debugger for all ARM-based PSoCs. You can snap-away this end of the kit and continue using it as a debugger.
We plan to open-source this firmware, so the community can add to it and turn this low-cost kit into a universal ARM SWD debugger.

This kit is expected to ship mid-April, stay tuned!

jeremy · « **Reply #24 on:** March 11, 2015, 12:28:51 am »

Quote from: CypressPSoC on March 11, 2015, 12:09:13 am

Hello folks!

Yes, we have a brand new low-cost prototyping kit featuring not one, but two ARM Cortex-M3 PSoC 5LP devices on it - all for $10!
http://www.cypress.com/cy8ckit-059

One of the PSoC 5LP devices comes pre-programmed as a programmer and debugger for all ARM-based PSoCs. You can snap-away this end of the kit and continue using it as a debugger.
We plan to open-source this firmware, so the community can add to it and turn this low-cost kit into a universal ARM SWD debugger.

This kit is expected to ship mid-April, stay tuned!

This is kind of incredible. Free toolchain, free IDE, cheap dev boards, open source friendly, good documentation and actual support. I don't think I've seen a semiconductor company behave like this before...


EEVblog Main Site	EEVblog on Youtube	EEVblog on Twitter	EEVblog on Facebook	EEVblog on Odysee

Author Topic: Cheap PSoC4 progremmer (Read 33252 times)

Share me