For anybody out there looking for a free open source BASIC compiler for PICs, then I highly recommend the Great Cow Basic Compiler. To make things even better, this compiler has been improved about 5000% in the last two years. A small group of individuals have contributed to making it better and I was one of the contributors to the team. There is now a new "Hot Release" available. It's called this because it's not a completely stable released but about as close as you can get without tons more testing.

I've talked about this compiler before and even created a website dedicated to it. When I created my GreatCowBasic.com website, there wasn't much documentation on the compiler. There wasn't an install facility. Setting a programmer up took a lot of steps. There were several different IDEs for it but none of them endorsed by the team.
Many bugs existed and the documentation was poor. Plus there were many requests for new commands. 

So I attempted to make it easier to use with the CHIPINO module as the hardware. Now the compiler has really grown from where it was. It now supports both PIC and AVR micros. I prefer PIC but now people using a CHIPINO can share code with an Arduino user. The SYNWRITE IDE has been improved and become the standard. The help files have been greatly improved. Tons of sample code are now included. Lots of new features and commands are part of Great Cow Basic.

Despite all these improvements, the simplicity of the compiler has been maintained. You can get access to any of the libraries and modify them if you really want/need to. What I like best is it still produces pure assembly code and I can load that into MPLAB or MPLAB X and debug with professional tools.

It really is a great compiler now and the price of FREE cannot be beat. So if you are just getting started with PICs, I highly recommend you look into this compiler. And if you like what you see, get involved, post to the forum, help find any missed bugs. It's truly a community project but far from a limited effort. It could easily sell for $100 or more based on what it can do but it remains free and completely open source for hobbyist or commercial use. 

I've been using the Great Cow Basic compiler for Microchip PICs for many years. Probably around 15 years now. I was never a heavy user and in the early days it was a bit limited and difficult to use. That was then and today it's a totally different story. There have been many great contributors to this open source compiler and the creator Hugh Considine is still behind the scenes making improvements. A new version is close to release and hopefully by the time you read this you will see an update dated with a February or March 2015 release.

The compiler has expanded to support both PIC and AVR microcontrollers. A full featured IDE is now available and works great. There have been many new commands added and improved documentation. One thing that was missing in the past was a library of sample code and now that is available too. 

Evan Venn, a top contributor, worked closely with Hugh and with some key forum members, to expand the compiler and sample code and commands to make it on par with any BASIC compiler out there. 

What I like the best is it produces a pure assembly code file. This allows me to see the core libraries and how they work. It allows me to load the assembly file into MPLAB and run debug mode or on the simulator without any special changes to the file or any special setup requirements. In fact MPLAB doesn't know a BASIC compiler created it. It thinks its a raw assembly code file.

So I suggest you give it another look. I created a separate website at greatcowbasic.com to help make it easier for a beginner to get started but I need to really update that site. The main Great Cow Basic site is a sourceforge website that has improved over time. So give it another look and let me know what you think?
My guess you'll want to try it out.

I've always wanted a low cost way to program PICs and a tablet seemed like a great solution. But most tablets either didn't have a USB port for the programmer or ran an operating system that didn't support the software tools I like to use such as Great Cow Basic and PICkit 2 software. Then I found the Winbook tablets at Microcenter. They offer a very low cost tablet that runs a full version of Windows 8.1 and has as full size USB port. On the smaller ones they are a USB 2.0 and on the larger versions they offer USB 3.0.

The pre-Christmas deals offered the smallest 7" Winbook for $59.95. It included Windows 8.1, 16GB of Flash Storage and 1GB of RAM. It also has wireless-N and a micro-HDMI port. So I bought one and downloaded the Great Cow Basic IDE at my Greatcowbasic.com site. I then ran the software without issue. The next step was to test the PICkit 2 on the USB port. This worked smoothly as the GCB IDE has the PICkit 2 command line interface built in. The programmer launched and programmed a PIC16F886 on a CHIPINO module without issue. 

I did find that 8GB of the 16GB was taken up by the operating system and other features so the memory size is limited, but plenty for what I was doing, at least I thought so. Then I decided to see if the Davinci 3D printer software, XYZware, would run on it. I downloaded that and it ran fine. I could load a 3D print into my Davinci without issues and the print was launched. My next step was to try and install the ExpressPCB software I like to use for creating circuit boards. Before I did that, I decided I needed a keyboard and mouse first. I tried a bluetooth keyboard but I couldn't it them to connect so I used a USB expander and was able to connect the PICkit 2, USB Keyboard and USB mouse to the tablet and everything worked great.

I also wanted to to see if I could load Chrome on the tablet so I could modify Tinkercad designs but I found the memory usage was already getting low. Seems that Windows did an update and used up a bunch of space. I have to figure out what I can do to get some of that back but my idea of installing ExpressPCB may not be possible either. I guess 16GB isn't enough space. The 32GB is $139.95 but as the price gets higher I may just stick with a low cost laptop. The tablet has a microSD card slot so I'm going to try and load the programs on there and see if I can run everything from the SD card. So I've achieved one goal of programming PICs with a tablet but to create designs, write the software, send the 3D print file for a complete design from a tablet will require more memory with the SD card if that works or spend more money on a larger tablet which is not what I want to do. But at least I know its possible at the simplest of all levels. I can write a Great Cow Basic program and program a CHIPINO module with the code. Not bad at all for $59.95. 

A reader of this blog, Frans Stevens, pointed out that the schematic for my Build Your Own PICkit 2 schematic had an error. The USB connections to D+ and D- were backward. I quickly looked over the schematic and also the PCB layout because I've built many of these and they all worked. But I found out he was right, the schematic was wrong. Luckily the PCB was correct and that is why all my PK2 programmers work fine.

Pin 2 of the USB needs to connect to D- and pin 3 needs to connect to D+. I had them backwards in the schematic. So I immediately updated the schematic and uploaded to the Build Your Own PICkit 2 page. Its awesome to have such supportive readers with the willingness to share any errors they find. I want my information to be accurate but I'm human and do make mistakes. Thanks Frans.

I recently donated some of my shield files to the CHIPINO.com website. They are just files from my kickstarter projects that I was sharing anyway but this way the CHIPINO team or anybody looking for CHIPINO support shields can get them at one location. I helped create the CHIPINO with a group of friends because I wanted to see a Microchip PIC based option to easily use the various Arduino shields. From there CHIPINO has grown on its own.

The desire to make CHIPINO completely open source and not just the current non-commercial version is still something I'm pushing for. It worked out great for Arduino though maybe not the Arduino creators. The Arduino kind of took on a life of it's own and the originators kind of lost control. That is the scary part for some of the CHIPINO team. 

Because CHIPINO was designed to work with a Programmer, and not a bootloader, it allows CHIPINO to use any 28 pin PIC16F or 18F device that operates at 5v. That offers a lot of options. This also made the CHIPINO automatically grow with all the advancements in the Microchip PIC world. Programming a CHIPINO from a PICkit 2 or PICkit 3 with MPLAB or MPLAB X or any third party IDE and any compiler that produces a .hex file for PICs is possible with the current setup and thus makes it universal for developers of all types. From hobbyist to professional.

It's one of the advantages I see to the CHIPINO has over Arduino which locks you into a crude IDE and only a couple chip options. But its clear that Arduino has taken over the electronics world so I'm clearly in the minority. But that is why I'd like to see the complete open source so others can take CHIPINO further. Time will tell. I'm also looking at changing my shield designs to completely open source as well (remove the non-commercial portion) as soon as the agreement I have with Howtronics.com expires. 


I have other designs to clear out of my lab which I'll be releasing open source over time. Each will probably be a project on my YouTube Channel. I have just so many designs I've worked on over the years and its time I just let them go for others to fully enjoy and possibly take them further than I ever could.

I've been planning a series of videos for my various books and I decided to start with my Programming PICs in BASIC book. This book has been very popular but I do get a lot of questions from beginners. So today I launched the first in a series of videos based on this book. In this one I show you how to setup the software and hardware to get that first project running.

The typical blink LED is used as the test project, but when this works that means you have the compiler working, the programmer working and the hardware circuit built properly. That is actually a lot to cover and can be the biggest hurdle for a beginner. Sometimes it helps just to see the steps rather than rely on the description in a book so I put this video together.

I used the Large IC breadboard box 3D print to hold the circuit which was a previous video on my channel. The intent is to show how to get started and then I'll follow this up with a video for each chapter in the book in the future. Then I'll tackle my Beginner's Guide to Embedded C series of books after that. I hope you enjoy this one.

I've been doing a lot of 3D printing lately but in the background I'm working on new books. One of them is an update to my Beginner's Guide to Embedded C Programming series. In the first series, I used MPLAB, HI-TECH C Compiler, PICkit 2 programmer and a PIC16F690. All those have been replaced. MPLAB X, XC8 Compiler, PICkit 3 programmer and the PIC16F1xxx family of enhanced mid-range devices. Something else changed recently which has me delaying my book, MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC).

MCC was in beta for a while but is now released and already on version 2.1, and it is awesome. With a few clicks of the mouse you can build a whole project of code (see it in the video below). Each peripheral is reduced to a set of check boxes or drop down menus. I/O can be configured with a GUI version of the chip. Even the main.c file can be generated. And the best part.....

.....all the code generated includes a library of functions for each peripheral written in XC8 code. Even I/O has its own set of functions such as:

RB0_SetHigh() 
RB0_SetLow()   
RB0_Toggle()  
RB0_GetValue()
RB0_SetDigitalInput()  
RB0_SetDigitalOutput()   
RB0_SetPullup()    
RB0_ResetPullup()   
RB0_SetAnalogMode()   
RB0_SetDigitalMode()

And these are just the I/O functions for the RB0 pin. And the function code is open source so you can see how its done. Great for learning.

It does the same for SPI, I2C, Timers, etc. You could take a module like the CHIPINO with fixed pinouts, install a PIC16F1936 (instead of PIC16F886), setup all the peripherals and connections to the I/O and then build the code. You'll have a main.c file with configurations set and ready for your custom code along with a library of functions for all the peripherals in the device. 

You basically just created your own Arduino style module from a CHIPINO. And you have debug capability through the PICkit 3, full access to the configuration to run slower speeds or faster speeds. And when you are done, unplug the PIC16F1936 and do it again for some other blank 28 pin PIC with different features. And because you don't need a custom bootloader device, you can use any PIC supported by MCC. And that list is growing with each release.

So stay tuned for more as I work this into my new series of books. Writing C code for PICs just got so easy. I cannot say that enough.

I released a new video on my YouTube channel for those setting up a home lab and who may want a little help choosing a PIC Programmer. I actually go back to the first hobbyist PIC programmer called the PICSTART 16B1 and then take the viewer through some of the most popular PIC programmers in history to get us to where we are today.

By no means did I cover every design, just the highlights from my years of experience. There are still many designs out there so it can be confusing but in the end I recommend sticking with the official PICkit programmers, though building your own like my PK2 is fun and you can learn a lot.

The video is short but hopefully viewers like it enough to subscribe and let me know they are watching and hoping for more. I plan to release future videos in three categories; 3D print projects, beginner electronic projects and tips for the home lab. Check it out and let me know your ideas for what you'd like to see in a future video.

I just posted another 3D Printer Project on my YouTube Channel. This time I created a box that holds a breadboard with space underneath for storing components. The box is shaped like an 8-pin Microcontroller. I used a thingiverse design from user tetralite who created an actual size 8-pin microcontroller 3D print design. So I took the design and made it much larger to fit a breadboard on top.

The breadboard is held up by four posts underneath but also has lots of empty space inside the microchip body. This allows you to store components inside. In fact it fits all the components I used in my book "Programming PICs in BASIC" which uses an 8-pin Microcontroller.

I used TinkerCad for the modifications and then printed the design on my Davinci 1.0 printer. The design had a lot of support material to be removed but it came out very solid and smooth with a little clean-up. I also used a raft as the base to try and prevent any warpage which seemed to work well. You can see the full project description in the video below.

This started out as just a fun project that grew bigger as I thought about it. At first I only recessed the breadboard into the top of the chip but then realized all that plastic under it could be hollowed out for storage. I released the .stl file on Thingiverse for anybody to build. Check it out and let me know if you build one too.

Amazon put my book "Beginner's Guide to Embedded C Programming" on sale with free shipping for Prime members at a price that is cheaper than I can sell my own book.  So if you were considering buying this book, I would grab it now because I don't expect this sale to last long. I get the same royalty either way so it doesn't hurt me if you pay less so I encourage you to save money and learn Embedded C Programming. Click on the picture below and it will take you right to it.

I really don't know how they can sell it this cheap but I'm sure they have a plan. The book is getting bit older but its still very relevant. And all the software tools I use and the hardware can still be downloaded or purchased from Microchip or Digikey.

All the source code and the MPLAB IDE with built in HI-TECH C compiler can be downloaded from the link on my cbookfiles page. The PICkit 2 Starter kit I use in the book is in stock at Digikey.

Honestly, I'd love to sell you my book from my website as the book sales help fund everything I do here at elproducts.com but I cannot beat this deal. I discount my book at this my site to help those getting started but Amazon is blowing that discount away.
Get it while it lasts.