Cheap microchip dev kit

[mukymuk]

Just FYI, you can get a Microstick II for $3.49 if you use "MCHPPIC32" discount code on checkout.

http://www.microchipdirect.com/ProductSearch.aspx?Keywords=DM330013-2

[MikeK]

Do they make you pay for the compiler?

[mukymuk]

I don't remember exactly what their compiler license is.  I think they offer a 60-day trial on the full version and I think there is a "lite" version that you can use indefinitely.  There are open source alternatives for some of their chips (maybe all).

[metalphreak]

$17 for postage kills the deal a bit Still pretty good value if you want/need a dev kit for PIC24J stuff.

[gtsili]

Just FYI, you can get a Microstick II for $3.49 if you use "MCHPPIC32" discount code on checkout.

Ordered one. Final price including shipping and VAT: 12.03 Euros. Thanks mukymuk.

[T4P]

I want to order from them but their website is pretty much like the company itself "We at microchip ensure you that your experience will be as flawed as possible"
I waited 10mins and it gave me a Error 324 and now it's 503

[Noize]

Thanks mukymuk.  I am in the UK and got it for £8.21 inc shipping and vat.

[ChrisW]

I am a noob but what advantage does using a pic micro controller offer over your stock standard atmega on an arduino?

Thank-you for the heads up on this special code!

 

[mukymuk]

No advantage necessarily.  It's just another micro from another company.  Small differences here and there might make one micro more appropriate for a given application.  For the odd personal hack project, it probably doesn't matter 99% of the time.  For aspiring embedded folks, knowing PIC is probably a good idea as it is widely used in industry.

[Rufus]

I am a noob but what advantage does using a pic micro controller offer over your stock standard atmega on an arduino?

Microchip have probably (I never counted) a thousand different processors called PIC from 8 to 32 bits so questions or statements which just say PIC are meaningless. Microchip shipped its 10 billionth PIC in 2011 which I think is a pretty good indication they have parts and support which is worth considering.

[T4P]

Atmel is not as stable as Microchip that's all.
Just that AVR's are better then PIC but they aren't so stable so to promise long term availability will be a bit of a task if you decide to use them in the later stages of being a engineer, you will never know when Atmel is gonna discontinue a product

[caroper]

This is actually a killer deal it includes 4 powerful CPU's a programmer/debugger and USB comm's.

Is it limited to 1 per order?
At that price I think I will get one for each team member

Cheers
Chris

 

[caroper]

You can only use the code once per order and they only had 5 left in stock, so I have ordered myself one. It comes out at:


Device Total:   3.49   
Shipping:   10.09    
Total (USD):   13.58   


Shipping is to the door by Currier so not a bad shipping price.


that includes the board and:
1 - PIC24FJ64GB002
1 - PIC24HJ64GP502
1 - dsPIC33FJ64MC802
1 - PIC32MX250F128


Cheers
Chris

[JohnS_AZ]

Thanks for the heads up mukymuk!

Just ordered one. $10.58 USD including shipping. The invoice say's it will ship tomorrow.

John

[andyg]

Awesome, thank you. I just ordered one.

You can order more than one, but for 2x the price each jumps up to $15 or so. So I just bought one.

[mukymuk]

You're welcome guys.  Happy to contribute.

I got my kit in today...looks like prime breadboarding fun. 

[metalphreak]

Awesome, thank you. I just ordered one.

You can order more than one, but for 2x the price each jumps up to $15 or so. So I just bought one.

The code is valid for a discount of $31.46 regardless of the number you order. So if you buy two, you get ~$15.73 off each one.

Does anyone know when the code expires? I might browse for some other microchip stuff while I'm paying for shipping, but I don't really have time to spare at the moment.

[NiHaoMike]

I am a noob but what advantage does using a pic micro controller offer over your stock standard atmega on an arduino?

No advantage necessarily.  It's just another micro from another company.  Small differences here and there might make one micro more appropriate for a given application.  For the odd personal hack project, it probably doesn't matter 99% of the time.  For aspiring embedded folks, knowing PIC is probably a good idea as it is widely used in industry.

Actually, there is a big advantage: diversity. PICs are available from super cheap tiny SMDs to powerful 32-bit processors. Can you name an Arduino that has a DSP core and high resolution PWM outputs?

On the other hand, PICs are harder to program than Arduinos when it comes to using peripherals. Every family of PIC is a little different and there are even differences within families. Expect to spend some time reading datasheets and reference manuals to understand how to use them.

[alm]

Actually, there is a big advantage: diversity. PICs are available from super cheap tiny SMDs to powerful 32-bit processors. Can you name an Arduino that has a DSP core and high resolution PWM outputs?

To be fair, the tiny SOT-23 PIC does not have that much in common with a big PIC32 apart from the name. I doubt they even share any of the peripherals.

[EEVblog]

I don't remember exactly what their compiler license is.  I think they offer a 60-day trial on the full version and I think there is a "lite" version that you can use indefinitely.  There are open source alternatives for some of their chips (maybe all).

I thought that technically, the full version can be had legally for free, as it is open source? Microchip do charge for it of course, but IIRC there is way to legally hack to get it for free?

Dave.

[metalphreak]

I don't think the LITE versions even have code size limits any more. From what I remember reading through the site a while back, its only the code size optimizations that are better in the paid version. For a hobbyist, if your code doesn't fit, just buy a slightly more expensive model with more program memory. If you're making enough devices that the cost becomes an issue you can afford to buy the full version

http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en_us/promo/mplabxc/

Looks like they're moving to some new "XC" compiler series. The XC8 for 8bit PICs looks to just be the Hi-Tech compiler. XC16 and XC32 are continuations of microchips original compilers. Click the downloads link on the left if you want the files (it's not actually very obvious... Microchip's website has always sucked the big one)

Better link: http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/family/mplabx/#downloads

[oPossum]

I thought that technically, the full version can be had legally for free, as it is open source? Microchip do charge for it of course, but IIRC there is way to legally hack to get it for free?

Dave.

The compiler for 16 and 32 bit PIC is GCC derived and open source, but the libraries supplied by Microchip are not open source. So if you want to build and use the open source compiler then you have to use an alternative C standard library like newlib.

Two open source builds of the PIC32 compiler are the Pinguino build and the ChipKit build. They both use newlib 1.19.0

"32-bit Pinguino programs are compiled with a C/C++ Compiler which is a GNU-Mips toolchain based on GCC 4.5.2, binutils 2.21 and Newlib 1.19." (ref)

"The chipKIT compiler, assembler and linker are based on GCC v4.5.1 and are also covered by the GPL. The C runtime library is based on Newlib v1.19.0, and is covered by a variety of open source licenses. "  (ref)

[gtsili]

Picked mine up today (arrived yesterday). However, there is no PIC24F on the box. Anyway, I raised the issue with MicrochipDirect. Very strange, it is not like there where that many items to put on the box and they missed that. 

[T4P]

Picked mine up today (arrived yesterday). However, there is no PIC24F on the box. Anyway, I raised the issue with MicrochipDirect. Very strange, it is not like there where that many items to put on the box and they missed that. 

It's in the other anti static pouch, you only got 1 or 2 pouches? Mine came with PIC24H and a dsPIC33F

[gtsili]

2 pouches, One with PIC24H and dsPIC33F and the headers and one with the board only.

It's in the other anti static pouch, you only got 1 or 2 pouches? Mine came with PIC24H and a dsPIC33F