New PIC18 USB development board: P-Star 25K50 Micro

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New PIC18 USB development board: P-Star 25K50 Micro

Postby DavidEGrayson » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:08 pm

Hello. This is David from Pololu Robotics & Electronics. We recently released the P-Star 25K50 Micro, a tiny development board for the PIC18F25K50.

Image

We think the P-Star 25K50 Micro is a compelling alternative to just buying a PIC18F25K50 in the SPDIP package because the P-Star has many features that make the PIC18F25K50 easier to use:

  • Integrated Micro-USB connector
  • Three user-controllable LEDs
  • Precision 16 MHz crystal
  • Can be powered either from USB or an external 5.5 V to 15 V supply without the need to change any jumpers
  • Ships with a proprietary USB bootloader developed by Pololu for the P-Star
  • Bootloader is usable from Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X with open source software

For more information, check out the P-Star 25K50 Micro page, and let us know what you think!

By the way, I also posted this on the Microchip forum.

--David Grayson
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Re: New PIC18 USB development board: P-Star 25K50 Micro

Postby Ian.M » Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:29 am

Hmm. You haven't given a spec for the available current from the on-board regulator.

Also the proprietary bootloader is a strong score against it. Serious users have debuggers and often want to be able to restore original functionality after they are done with debugging.

My last niggle is that it appears to be very difficult to disable the onboard LEDs (to gain access to bare unloaded I/Os) without desoldering the series resistors. Microchip demo boards have all the LED cathodes going to a common unpopulated jumper with a track directly across it that can easily be cut with an xacto knife, which effectively isolates the LEDs. I think you should have provided a solder pad jumper for the LEDs with similar functionality.

Apart from that, it seems well enough thought out and as there is a shortage of minimalist breadboardable PIC18FxxK50 USB demo boards, I'm sure it will find a place in the market.
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Re: New PIC18 USB development board: P-Star 25K50 Micro

Postby DavidEGrayson » Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:16 pm

The on-board regulator can provide up to 100 mA, and more details about the power situation are in the "Pinout and components" section of the user's guide. Thank you for the feedback.

--David Grayson
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Re: New PIC18 USB development board: P-Star 25K50 Micro

Postby DavidEGrayson » Tue Nov 21, 2017 12:31 am

We recently released a second member of the P-Star family, the P-Star 45K50 SV!

Image

The new P-Star 45K50 Mini SV is very similar to the smaller P-Star 25K50 Micro, but is bigger and better, with 11 more I/O pins (for a total of 30), a more capable 5 V regulator, and several other additional features.

The P-Stars will be on sale this weekend during the Pololu Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale 2017. The sale will have different daily deals up to 75% off, 15% off all active Pololu-brand products (including the P-Stars), and upgrades to the next best price breaks on everything else! We are also offering free bonus items with orders over $100 and free US shipping on many sale items. The sale runs from Wednesday, November 22 through Cyber Monday (November 27). For details, visit https://www.pololu.com/blackfriday2017.

--David
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