PICKIT2 clone very simple PIC programmer

[riponsp]

Hi,

Recently I have made a PIC KIT2 programmer. It's very simple and very easy to make. At first I was afraid to make it. But finally I found It was very easy to make.

Software for load the Hex file can be found here,

http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en023805

I have downloaded "PICkit 2 V2.61 Install with .NET Framework" from the above link.

Whole project is working fine.

Ripon

[blue_17]

I made similar clone PICkit2 file in my site

http://www.blue17.elektroda.eu/pic/1354

Regards

[Gallymimu]

What we REALLY need is an ICD3 clone!

[CocaCola]

What we REALLY need is an ICD3 clone!

Not really cost effective for the DIYer even if you had the firmware dumps, have you see what the board looks like and how involved it is?

[Sideshow Bob]

Not really cost effective for the DIYer even if you had the firmware dumps, have you see what the board looks like and how involved it is?

http://cms.diodenring.de/de/electronic/microcontroller/86-icd2-vs-icd3
I agree in the link you will find some pictures it is kind of ouch to do some reverse engineer work here. For the professional user. The ICD is relatively "cheap" so it is better to get the real thing. The hobbyist may by a PICKIT 3 do allmost the same work

[Gallymimu]

Not really cost effective for the DIYer even if you had the firmware dumps, have you see what the board looks like and how involved it is?

Yes I know, it was really a tongue in cheek comment.  As cool as it would be.  Honestly though Microchip is pretty competitive on most of their dev tools.  They are not intended to make them money.  Especially with student or design partner discounts the stuff is priced reasonably well.


Posted on: October 24, 2012, 04:41:51 16:41 - Automerged

http://cms.diodenring.de/de/electronic/microcontroller/86-icd2-vs-icd3
I agree in the link you will find some pictures it is kind of ouch to do some reverse engineer work here. For the professional user. The ICD is relatively "cheap" so it is better to get the real thing. The hobbyist may by a PICKIT 3 do allmost the same work

I don't agree with the article's statements about the lack of benefit of the ICD3 over the ICD2.  I'm sure it doesn't matter for low end chips with very small flash but anything on the order of 64KB to 512KB the ICD3 truly is 10x faster to program and debugging is much snappier as well.  One of the best investments I've made was moving from ICD2 to ICD3.  Of course this isn't really relevant to the DIYer who wants to spend less than $50 on a programmer.

Incidentally the ICD3 is primarily the same hardware as the REALICE (I think) which isn't mentioned in the article I don't think.  So certainly the hardware isn't being fully utilized.

[dotm]

Incidentally the ICD3 is primarily the same hardware as the REALICE

The difference should be that the RealICE emulates the microcontroller, so there is no physical presence of the target mcu needed in the circuit.
At first i would assume that for in circuit debugging without RealICE, you need separate space in the program memory. Secondly i assume from the prior statment, that for debugging with ICD or PicKit something has to be computed in the PIC in the background to make debugging possible.
So RealICE should be way faster.
If the assumption that the debugging program reserves space in the MCUs memory is true, then you will never be able to debug smaller PICs with any ICD or PicKit tool.

Edit: it seems to be somewhat different to conventional emulators like ICE2000. As i remember, ICE2000 had several target boards, specific for the desired device. RealICE seems to work differetly...

[Gallymimu]

The difference should be that the RealICE emulates the microcontroller, so there is no physical presence of the target mcu needed in the circuit.
At first i would assume that for in circuit debugging without RealICE, you need separate space in the program memory. Secondly i assume from the prior statment, that for debugging with ICD or PicKit something has to be computed in the PIC in the background to make debugging possible.
So RealICE should be way faster.
If the assumption that the debugging program reserves space in the MCUs memory is true, then you will never be able to debug smaller PICs with any ICD or PicKit tool.

Edit: it seems to be somewhat different to conventional emulators like ICE2000. As i remember, ICE2000 had several target boards, specific for the desired device. RealICE seems to work differetly...

The Real Ice isn't an emulator as you suspected.  I've got one and an ICD3 and honestly don't make any use of the extras that the Real Ice offers.  There are a few cool things like a hardware trace real time watch and I/O capability but they aren't well developed or supported.

You are right in that many of the smaller processors require some reserved space for debugging but most of their processors now have dedicated internal hardware which keeps the debugging out of the way.  Certainly there are less overall resources at the low end of the processors.

I honestly don't know why the call it an emulator since it requires a processor to do anything.  What does it "emulate?"

[bbarney]

Stick to the topic please   PICKIT2 clone very simple PIC programmer 

 while it's all very interesting info all you guy's have done is hijack the poor OP's thread

[Mozo1971]

Do we realy need a ICD3 clone ?

I work every day with ICD3 and it´s not realy perfect! I think, if you have an programmer which works (e.g. PicKit2/3 or clone)
for your choosed micro it´s enought.

When you need a ICD3 for debugging, the limits of it are fast reached (to less HW breakpoints!).
I use debug words via serial communikation, programmed real time buffers and debug pin´s for chip debugging. And it works
fine for 99% of all programming mistakes. 

[Ichan]

I use debug words via serial communikation, programmed real time buffers and debug pin´s for chip debugging.

That's it.. that's it! Now I know why I never use my Pickit2/3 for debugging, only for programming  .

-ichan

[metal]

PICKit needs an adapter for debugging!

[Sideshow Bob]

PICKit needs an adapter for debugging!

What all PICKits have in common. They are all quite slow. I would not bother