I have another PK2 programmer update for you. My PK2 design just got a little better. I wanted to try out the new PIC16F1788 in a CHIPINO module because I noticed that Great Cow Basic Compiler supported it. But I quickly realized that the latest device file for PICkit 2 didn't support it. So it gave me reason to try out the Device File Manager by user name Dougy83.
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The device file manager is a great tool for updating the Device file for PICkit 2 (and my PK2). I used a PIC16F1784 which was supported and made a copy within the tool. Then I downloaded the PIC16F1788 programming spec to get all
the custom details I needed to update the device file. A lot of the settings were the same but program space and device ID needed to be updated. I put everything in place and reviewed it a couple times to make sure I didn't miss anything and then created the device file. Then I had to wait 3 days for my free Microchip PIC16F1788 samples to arrive.
The parts arrived yesterday and I spent the evening testing it out. To my pleasant surprise it worked the first time. I was able to test several sample programs on the CHIPINO including files for my Demo-Shield and the DFRobot LCD shield. Everything worked great except the ADC. I found that the PIC16F1788 added a new differential feature that required a setup to the ADCON2 register. Great Cow Basic didn't handle this so a patch line of ADCON2 = 15 fixed the issue. The Great Cow Basic guys are already aware of the fix and will try to include it in the next release.
Bottom line is, I am now confident that I can update the PICkit 2 Device file so my PK2 may not ever run out of support for the new devices.
You can get the device file on my Build your own PICkit 2 page.
The parts arrived yesterday and I spent the evening testing it out. To my pleasant surprise it worked the first time. I was able to test several sample programs on the CHIPINO including files for my Demo-Shield and the DFRobot LCD shield. Everything worked great except the ADC. I found that the PIC16F1788 added a new differential feature that required a setup to the ADCON2 register. Great Cow Basic didn't handle this so a patch line of ADCON2 = 15 fixed the issue. The Great Cow Basic guys are already aware of the fix and will try to include it in the next release.
Bottom line is, I am now confident that I can update the PICkit 2 Device file so my PK2 may not ever run out of support for the new devices.
You can get the device file on my Build your own PICkit 2 page.
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