by electrotechie » Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:30 pm
Thank you for replying Ric.
I realise that I would have to provide an ISCP link (probably pogo pins) on the target board in order to program the production chips.
What I will probably start with is the DIP version for the first prototype. A colleague is doing the hardware work; I am mostly just software. The final target board will be really small, around 10mm*15 and rather crammed so no real room for (or really the need for) a normal pin connector (I am told). The programming pins will be used as I/O on the target but will be disconnected from anything else for programming.
Thanks for confirming that my source code will run OK on the 14 as long as I stick to the limitations of the smaller chip.
Reading through some of the files, I now realise that MPLAB reconfigures all the software with different .h files (and I presume different libraries), for each type of PIC, even within a family. I think that the errors I caused by simply changing the PIC type in an already configured project are a bit of a red herring, there were hundreds - it is clearly not the way to go.
I guess what I will do is to configure a separate project for the PIC16F15214 and use the configuration tool to mimic the setup of the pins, timers and pwm module between the two projects synchronise the main.c file - basically try to keep two projects in sync. I had to do something like that between the nRF52 range of chips when developing in Segger.
I liked the Curiosity Nano Evaluation Kit because it is so elegant, just plug into usb and go, no need for wires, plugs, target power supplies etc. I am sure I will get to the stage where all that will be necessary, but meanwhile I will press on with the Curiosity Nano Evaluation Kit to familiarise myself with the PICs.
In due course I will buy a Snap-in or Pickit 4 tool to program the devices on the pre-production run.
The application is relatively trivial, just putting out a variety of pulses of different frequencies and m/s ratios depending on slow moving inputs on 3 pins. No great accuracy or responsiveness required.
Thanks once again for explaining - it is tricky when first starting in an unfamiliar development environment.
Ray