PICkitPlus for Linux

[Anobium]

So, it is autumn in the UK … time to share progress.   Some new regarding PICKitPlus - the software the uses the Microchip PK2 and PK3 to program new and legacy microcontrollers from Microchip.

We are very pleased to announce the release of the Linux version of PKCMD: PKCMD-LX.    This is the Personal Computer version, designed to run on flavours of Linux, both 32 and 64 bit.  This was a huge investment by us.  But, these are exciting developments for the software as it shows what can be with the PK2 and PK3 programmers!

PKCMD-LX can be used for reading and writing Microchip’s PIC range of microcontrollers, using the Pickit 2 or Pickit 3 device programmers.   PKCMD-LX provides the best experience for the Linux user, developers and the professional developer community, and as a command-line utility is can be easily integrated into your scripts.

We decided not to write a GUI for PKCMD-LX as there are too many different Linux distributions and we feel that the user community will be very capable of making a GUI for the software.

Packaging

PKCMD-LX is packaged as an AppImage.   Using an AppImage enables the development team to provide native binaries for Linux users the same way we do for other operating systems.   An AppImage enables the development team to package the PKCMD-LX application for common Linux operating systems, e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE, RHEL, CentOS, Fedora etc.

The PICKitPlus AppImage comes with all dependencies that cannot be assumed to be part of each target system and will run on most Linux distributions without modifications.
Almost all major distributions are compatible with AppImages, without requiring the user to make modifications to the base system.   AppImages are portable. You can place the AppImage on a USB flash drive and run it from there, on any machine, if you wish.

Supported Linux Distributions

Distributions known to be compatible version require libc (minimum levels of the OS) and these include:

•   Arch 2011.08.19
•   CentOS 7.8.2003 (released in 2020)
•   Debian 7 (Wheezy)
•   Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
•   Gentoo 11.2
•   Mint 11 (Katya)
•   openSUSE 12.1
•   Slackware 13.37
•   Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)

Distributions that do not use libc (such as Abyss, Alpine, Sabotage, Vanilla and Void) will not run PKCMD-LX.

Free Compatibility-test Program

A compatibility-test program is available free of charge on our website:  Download our free download to see if the full product is compatible with your computer and Operating System:  http://www.pickitplus.co.uk/distros/open/pkcmd-lx-compatibility-test.tar.gz

Get the software

Visit our website www.pickitplus.co.uk to obtain the software, and, to get the latest part database see: https://github.com/Anobium/PICKitPlus

Again, thank you for everyone's support to keep this project going!

Evan

[HB9EVI]

well, was about time, that Microchip cares about the Linux users; I didn't buy me a Pickit so far because of the lack of use on Linux; but the sprut Brenner8 is discontinued and has some pain with newer PIC16.

in the end it's nice for me to have the option, but otherwise I almost entirely switched to ARM, and for smaller stuff still AVR

[ebclr]

That's ridiculous, why not use a windows virtual machine

[bingo600]

How long have you been sitting on this release ??


•   Debian 7 (Wheezy)
     Latest Debian as of today is 10

•   Mint 11 (Katya)
      Latest Mint as of today is 20

•   Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)
     Latest Ubuntu is 20

What went wrong ??


/Bingo

[janoc]

That's ridiculous, why not use a windows virtual machine

So you are suggesting using a big ass virtual machine just to run a programmer/debugging tool? That would be ridiculous.

And everything else (IDE, compilers, etc.) works natively in Linux already.

[janoc]

How long have you been sitting on this release ??


•   Debian 7 (Wheezy)
     Latest Debian as of today is 10

•   Mint 11 (Katya)
      Latest Mint as of today is 20

•   Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)
     Latest Ubuntu is 20

What went wrong ??


/Bingo

It is even worse than that. Not supporting the latest version but an LTS would be still OK and totally understandable.

However, Debian 7 is EOL since May 31, 2018, Ubuntu 11.04 was EOLed on 28 October 2012 (!!!), Fedora 15 26.6.2012, etc. In fact, the only thing that is still supported on that "supported" list is that CentOS. Everything else is dead and not supported (not even security updates anymore!), for years.

Seriously, why to even bother to release something like this when nobody will be able to run it? Is that some sort of a sick joke? Or are Microchip's in-house developers using decade old Linux systems with no security updates (since the OS is EOL since ages ago) for work? 

[dr.diesel]

 

Website is currently dead also.

[DimitriP]

How long have you been sitting on this release ??

•   Debian 7 (Wheezy)
     Latest Debian as of today is 10

•   Mint 11 (Katya)
      Latest Mint as of today is 20

•   Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)
     Latest Ubuntu is 20

What went wrong ??

Distros known to have a compatible version (and later) of libc include:

They clearly said these versions or later , which is better than releasing software than NEEEEEEDS the version released yesterday.

[johnh]

Works for me


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[bingo600]

Distros known to have a compatible version (and later) of libc include:

They clearly said these versions or later , which is better than releasing software than NEEEEEEDS the version released yesterday.

Strange ... I just made a search for later in the posts in this thread, the only hit i got was in your post.

Did i miss something ??

/Bingo

[Anobium]

These are the minimum versions of the distributions.

How long we been sitting on it?  It is totally new written by us using LISP.

[Anobium]

That's ridiculous, why not use a windows virtual machine

So you are suggesting using a big ass virtual machine just to run a programmer/debugging tool? That would be ridiculous.

And everything else (IDE, compilers, etc.) works natively in Linux already.

Sharing some insights.

We did a lot of market research.  And, using VMs to program and debug was not one of the use cases that was high on the list.     The need for OS specific support, like a Linux version for Linux operating systems was the requirement, a Pi version for Pi OS etc - that is the ask we get all the time.

[Anobium]

Website is currently dead also.

Really?  Works ok today and for others.

Evan

[LootMaster]

well, was about time, that Microchip cares about the Linux users; I didn't buy me a Pickit so far because of the lack of use on Linux; but the sprut Brenner8 is discontinued and has some pain with newer PIC16.

in the end it's nice for me to have the option, but otherwise I almost entirely switched to ARM, and for smaller stuff still AVR

This is American company flexing its muscles with another American company...You get punished in the end by the tentacles of this behemoth.

Lay down now and maintain your claim for privacy...Let them have the money... They seem to obey the outcry...

[Anobium]

How long have you been sitting on this release ??


•   Debian 7 (Wheezy)
     Latest Debian as of today is 10

•   Mint 11 (Katya)
      Latest Mint as of today is 20

•   Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)
     Latest Ubuntu is 20

What went wrong ??



/Bingo

It is even worse than that. Not supporting the latest version but an LTS would be still OK and totally understandable.

However, Debian 7 is EOL since May 31, 2018, Ubuntu 11.04 was EOLed on 28 October 2012 (!!!), Fedora 15 26.6.2012, etc. In fact, the only thing that is still supported on that "supported" list is that CentOS. Everything else is dead and not supported (not even security updates anymore!), for years.

Seriously, why to even bother to release something like this when nobody will be able to run it? Is that some sort of a sick joke? Or are Microchip's in-house developers using decade old Linux systems with no security updates (since the OS is EOL since ages ago) for work? 

I listed the  minimum versions required.  I will update the post.

This is a huge investment to develop this software.  We have had the support of many to make this happen.  So, not a sick joke and we have nothing to do with Microchip - we are an independent team of developers based in the UK. 

We have an ever growing number of users that use our software and hardware products.  We work and support our users to make using Microchip product easy.

:-)

[Karel]

Why should one use PickitPlus over Mplab IPE?

[Anobium]

Great question.

MPLAB IPE today supports a huge range of programmers ( to cover the range of Microchip programmer products) and a huge range of chips. However, IPE does not support the PICkit2 and/or PICkit3 programmers for many newer chips. 

PICKitPlus provides support for PICKit2 and PICKit3 for the chips listed here:  http://www.pickitplus.co.uk/Typesetter/index.php/Supported-Parts.   
The Linux solution is a download and program paradigm - very simple to use, and, there is no requirement for internet when using.

Does this answer your question?



And, a few insights:

PICKitPlus can be used from within MPLAB-IDE to program chips.  I have posted on this in the past.

And, there is no technical constraint within the  PICkit2 or PICkit3 programmers to prevent IPE from programming the newer PICs.  For the rational of why Micrcohip do not support  PICkit2 and/or PICkit3 programmers within IPE we would have to ask Microchip.

[Karel]

..., there is no requirement for internet when using.

Mplab IPE does require an internet connection?

[janoc]

I listed the  minimum versions required.  I will update the post.

That won't tell people much because libc changes quite frequently and while you might be able to find an old version as an installable package, it may not be easy/possible.

A better way to express the requirements is to say:

"Application requires libc version X.Y.Z", we have tested it on Debian X, Ubuntu Y, ... (starting with the latest versions) and just say that people may be able to run it on a different version but that it is unsupported and they are on their own.

When you say that something is supported on a specific version of Linux will make people assume that is what you have tested it on only (because that's what pretty much all vendors of proprietary software do) and that everything else is a gamble. And when that "supported" version is almost a decade old, that gives a really strange impression - that's why the reactions.

Linux users are used to the fact that distros are not binary compatible because of the different library versions so people are sensitive to things like this. That's very unlike the Windows ecosystem where you say "works on XP (or later)" and people automatically and correctly assume that it will most likely work in Windows 10 too.

This is a huge investment to develop this software.  We have had the support of many to make this happen.  So, not a sick joke and we have nothing to do with Microchip - we are an independent team of developers based in the UK. 

We have an ever growing number of users that use our software and hardware products.  We work and support our users to make using Microchip product easy.

:-)

That's good to hear, I have assumed you worked for Microchip. And apologies for the "sick joke" comment.

[Anobium]

..., there is no requirement for internet when using.

Mplab IPE does require an internet connection?

Assuming the update the programmer firmware is required, yes,  you may ( this depends on whether you have been able to cache all the possible permutations of firmware for the specific Microchip programmer selected to used) need the internet.  The programmer firmware will be updated when you change chip family and there are 23 8-bit chip families, and many more firmware across the whole range of chips.

 

[Anobium]

I listed the  minimum versions required.  I will update the post.

That won't tell people much because libc changes quite frequently and while you might be able to find an old version as an installable package, it may not be easy/possible.

A better way to express the requirements is to say:

"Application requires libc version X.Y.Z", we have tested it on Debian X, Ubuntu Y, ... (starting with the latest versions) and just say that people may be able to run it on a different version but that it is unsupported and they are on their own.

When you say that something is supported on a specific version of Linux will make people assume that is what you have tested it on only (because that's what pretty much all vendors of proprietary software do) and that everything else is a gamble. And when that "supported" version is almost a decade old, that gives a really strange impression - that's why the reactions.

Linux users are used to the fact that distros are not binary compatible because of the different library versions so people are sensitive to things like this. That's very unlike the Windows ecosystem where you say "works on XP (or later)" and people automatically and correctly assume that it will most likely work in Windows 10 too.

This is a huge investment to develop this software.  We have had the support of many to make this happen.  So, not a sick joke and we have nothing to do with Microchip - we are an independent team of developers based in the UK. 

We have an ever growing number of users that use our software and hardware products.  We work and support our users to make using Microchip product easy.

:-)

That's good to hear, I have assumed you worked for Microchip. And apologies for the "sick joke" comment.

Great advice. Thank you.

We have provided the compatibility tester application to enable folks to validate the software.  This compatibility tester application was one of the deliverables of the Alpha testing.   

Re the story with Microchip, see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/pickit-plus-for-pickit2-and-pickit3-programmers/  The piece in quotes is from the 8-bit BU VP.

:-)

[Ian.M]

Borked link!  Try: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/pickit-plus-for-pickit2-and-pickit3-programmers/