Recommend a PIC Development Board - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Sam__
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 08:33:44 pm
content: I was wondering if people had any advice on which PIC development board for the 28DIP PICs would be best for the basics. I'm looking for a simple one with maybe a single led or switch (similar to the arduino and TI boards) and the pin outs so I can wire it up to a breadboard.Something as cheap as possible would be ideal.Thanks in advance.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 08:57:11 pm
content: They're so easy to wire up, I'm really not sure what you'd want a development board to do. All you need is a breadboard, a 7805 voltage regulator, a pull-up resistor (between the VCC and MCLR pins), a capacitor (between VCC and GND next to the PIC), and a six pin 0.1" header.If you have a breadboard anyway, just plug the PIC straight into it. Hook 5 pins up to a PICKIT 3 programmer and off you go!

author: Sam__
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 09:02:51 pm
content: That sounds like an incredibly good idea. So the programmer is a programmer and debugger? Looks like it only costs £30-40 to get one in the UK.I was thinking I'd have to get a programming board like with the arduino and msp430 I've used up until now.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 09:12:10 pm
content: I bought one of these:http://uk.farnell.com/microchip/dv164131/debug-express-pickit-3-pic-dspic/dp/1686530You get the PICKIT3 programmer / debugger, plus a simple target board with a PIC18 device on it. The only other thing you need to get started is the software - download yourself a copy of MPLAB X and the free XC8 C compiler from Microchip.The PICKIT3 can program any PIC in the range, 8, 16 or 32 bit. It's not hugely fast, and there are more grown up and capable programmers available too, but it can't be beaten for price or simplicity. Debugging (setting breakpoints, viewing variables and so on) is supported on all but the smallest and cheapest PICs.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 09:16:54 pm
content: MikroE PIC V7 board. can;t beat that. supportd all pic10 pic12 pic16 and pic18 series from 8 pins to 40 pins. lots of leds buttons and other stuff.comes with on board programmer and debugger ...www.mikroe.com

author: Sam__
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 09:31:02 pm
content: Quote from: free_electron on January 14, 2013, 09:16:54 pmThat board looks like a beast. Absolutely massive! I was looking for something a bit smaller but now I'm tending toward getting the pic kit 3 and use it with all the breadboard modules I already have. I do have a lot of time to ponder over this purchase so al and any ideas are welcome.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 09:58:44 pm
content: Personally I'm not that keen on using boards that require a microcontroller to be pre-programmed with one particular vendor's boot loader code. It's tying you in to using them as a supplier - but programming a PIC in C with the official Microchip tools is so easy anyway that I just don't see the point. There seems to be quite an industry growing up around making something that's easy, easy.

author: Sam__
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 10:11:14 pm
content: I just watched Dave's rant on the Pic Kit 3. Do any of his points from way back in 2009 still hold? Have there been any massive changes to the software on the thing?

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 10:14:31 pm
content: I've not seen that particular video, but the answer on the software is yes - MPLAB X was completely new last year.It's still quite new and a bit rough around the edges, but it's undergoing a lot of active development right now.

author: Sam__
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 10:20:41 pm
content: Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 14, 2013, 10:14:31 pmThat's good to know. I'm going to be doing some programming using it in the next 10 weeks of this term at university so I'll be able to get a feel for it before I make any purchases.

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:06:16 pm
content: The PICkit 2 is still the way to go unless it doesn't support the (newest) micros you need.The UART tool and logic analyzer are handy tools that the '3 does not include.

author: kek
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:07:19 pm
content: Here are three "dev" solderless bread boards that I use. The pics show a PIC16F866, PIC32MX120F032B, and a PIC18F26J60. I use a 6 pin extension header from an arduino shield pack along with a 6 pin double male header. I have a few 3v3, 5v0 reg boards that got off ebay for just a few dollars. I also find the cheap battery packs(4 xAA, 3xAA) useful along with a low drop out reg (mcp3302) from microchip, just stick the solderless board to the battery pack. 4 rubber feet on the bottom of the battery pack keeps it from moving around too much.Ken

author: notsob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:28:03 pm
content: And here's another PIC Dev board with tutorialshttp://www.gooligum.com.au/tutorials.html

author: MikeK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 03:42:29 am
content: Quote from: Sam__ on January 14, 2013, 10:11:14 pmWatch Dave's followup video. Microchip did make a few changes to the PicKit3 to make it better, but the only reason to buy one is to program the latest chips. Aside from that the PicKit2 is better in every way.

author: BloodyCactus
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 05:57:52 pm
content: You can get a microstickII from microchip which uses the DIP version of the PIC32. nice little board. Or just breadboard the 28pin dip pic32.. or buy the nice ubw32 from sparkfun

author: Teemo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 06:52:20 pm
content: I would recommend simple solderless breadboard also. It may seem like you need some extra "development board" to start, but in practice it is more convenient to hook everything up on the breadboard. Just get Pickit3 and start playing. You can also make programming adapter from IC socket, as I did, but in circuit programming is more modern approach.

author: lewis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 07:46:23 pm
content: As someone pointed out, the Gooligum board is excellent, as are his tutorials which Istronglyrecommend. Strongly. Very strongly in fact. the basic tutorials are free and the advanced ones are free if you buy the dev board which is extremely cheap.http://www.gooligum.com.au/tutorials.html.The Mikroelectronika range of dev boards are also excellent, as are their compilers which are extremely good value for money. The dev boards look complicated, but they really are fantastic.http://www.mikroe.com/

author: JoannaK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 16, 2013, 01:13:39 am
content: That Gooligum board looks really good and the tutorials seem to be extremely well written. He has taken time to compare Asm/C and even used two available C compilers when possible.

author: RjSa
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2013, 07:59:13 pm
content: Take a look at this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIC-Development-Board-kit-for-DIP28-PICs-PIC18F2680-microcontroller-Microchip-/130853544266?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e777aa14aYou can solder whatever component you want to the dev board itself and adapt it to your needs.I have one 18FXXXX dev board from the same manufacturer and they are pretty good. Also, they come with example code for each module (in the case of the 18F board)

author: Sam__
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2013, 08:05:56 pm
content: That looks like a really good simple board.I think if all goes well with my exploration into PCB making I might make a simple one myself.

author: blewisjr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2013, 09:02:01 pm
content: I have the pickit 3 starter kit. Comes with a dev board with 4 led a trimpot and a push button a pic 16f1829 and a pic 18f14k22. Has 13 tutorials for both chips in c and assembler. Nice kit for learning. Now that I am almost done with the tuts I am going to move the chips over to a breadboard for a personal project.

author: ThedboBoy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 21, 2013, 04:43:28 am
content: I quite recently purchased a picoTRONICS24 development board (http://modtronicsaustralia.com/shop/picotronics24-pic24-development-kit/) - which I'm happy with. I went for it because it has USB, direct UART pinouts for an FTDI cable and a pretty powerful PIC24FJ64GB004 (one of the 16-bit ones) uC - as an asside it is one of the few micros I could find that had a stable enough internal oscillator for USB2.0 (this should make my PCB, when I finally design it, simpler). I also purchased from them because they are Australian and I wanted it sooner than a Chinese ebay purchase