Picprog 1.0.1 documentation

2001-05-06

1. Background reading
2. Requirements
3. Hardware
4. Installation
5. Usage
6. Burning PICs
7. Reading PICs
8. Internals
9. Changes
10. Other available programmers
11. Available languages
    • Free compilers
    • Commercial demos
12. Other software
13. Patches
14. Copyright notice

At the moment this is the second implementation of an PIC programmer for Linux that works with the very simple and cheap serial port programmers. The first one I know was made by Ralph Metzler.

1. Background reading

A good collection of links and software for PIC is in David Tait's PIC links page and in Rick Miller's GNUPIC pages. I have also documented here the software I took a look at. I have focused into Linux support, so I have never used any DOS software mentioned below.

2. Requirements

Serial port pic16c84 programming hardware

See the hardware section. This device is connected to a usual serial port of your PC, and is the same device as used with many DOS PIC burning programs.

g++ compiler for Linux

This program is written in C++, so you need a C++ compiler to compile it. This you should already have installed on your Linux system.

Linux kernel version 2.0.32 or 2.1.45 or later.

This programmer needs some functionality in Linux serial driver that as of kernel versions 2.0.32 and 2.1.45 is available in standard kernels. The programmer uses TIOCSBRK and TIOCCBRK ioctl to control the state of TxD serial port output accurately. These ioctl's are standard on BSD flavor unixes, like SunOS 4, but they still are unimplemented on many serial drivers in Linux kernel. Only the standard serial port is known to work by me.

A compiler for PIC

Your assembler, or C compiler, or whatever, should produce either Intel IHX16 or IHX8M format hex files. For assembler I recommend picasm105 by Timo Rossi.

3. Hardware

TxD

Programming voltage, pin /MCLR

RTS

Clock pulse, pin RB6

DTR (output), CTS (input)

Serial data, pin RB7

I made a minor modification to the jdm84v23 schema and pcb mask, because I thought D4 was stressed on positive clock pulses - it short circuits the rs-232 RTS pin to GND. I added a 10k resistor there. I believe it does not do any harm. But it also is not absolutely required, as the clock pulses are short and rs-232 is protected for short circuits anyway.

The schemantics diagram:

The 300 dpi pcb mask:

4. Installation

Check your system against the requirements mentioned above.

Untar the archive and change to the source file directory. You should only have to type:

make

After compilation you can, as a root user, just type:

make install

5. Usage

--warranty, --copyright, --help

Display warranty or copyright information or the help text.

--quiet, -q

Do not display the copyright notice.

6. Burning PICs

1. Compile your program into a hex file.
2. Insert the pic16c84 chip into the socket in the programmer, or connect the in-circuit programming cable to your device.
3. Connect the programmer device to a serial port.
4. Burn the program with command:

   picprog --burn --input file.hex --pic /dev/ttyS1
   

5. If the above command produces error output that suggests that the chip was in the code protection state, retry with the following command:

   picprog --erase --burn --input file.hex --pic /dev/ttyS1
   

--erase

To be able to reprogram a PIC device that has previously been programmed into Code Protection state (Control Word fuse bit 0x10 cleared), it is necessary to bulk erase the chip. It is done by adding this option to the command line. The default is not to bulk erase the chip.

--burn

Actually program the device. Without this option only the syntax of input files and command line options is checked.

--input-hexfile path, -i path

Specifies the input hex file. The file can be either in IHX16 or IHX8M formats, the format is automatically recognized.

--cc-hexfile path, -c path

Only necessary for debugging. Outputs the same data as was read from the input hex file.

--pic-serial-port device, -p device

The device name of the serial port the programmer is connected to. Default is /dev/ttyS0.

0x0000-0x03FF

Program memory, 1024 words * 14 bits.

0x2000-0x2003

ID locations.

0x2007

Control word fuses

0x2100-0x213F

Data memory, 64 bytes * 8 bits.

7. Reading PICs

1. Insert the pic16c84 chip into the socket in the programmer, or connect the in-circuit programming cable to your device.
2. Connect the programmer device to a serial port.
3. Read the device with command:

   picprog --output ofile.hex --pic /dev/ttyS1
   

--output-hexfile path, -o path

Specifies the output hex file. The file will be written in IHX16 format, unless otherwise specified by the --ihx8m option.

--skip-ones

When reading the PIC device, do not consider the all-ones memory locations to be programmed, and skip them in the hex file output. This skips the program memory locations that have hex value 0x3FFF and data memory locations that have hex value 0xFF.

--ihx16, --ihx8m

Select the output hex file format to be either ihx16 or ihx8m, respectively. The default is ihx16.

--pic-serial-port device, -p device

The device name of the serial port the programmer is connected to. Default is /dev/ttyS0.

8. Internals

picport.cc, .h

class picport: manipulates the serial port hardware. With this class you can execute programming commands like read a word, program a word, increment address etc. Look at picport.h for details.

hexfile.cc, .h

class hexfile: contains a PIC memory image. You can load and save the contents of this class to a file, and you can program and read it from the PIC chip. Programming uses class picport.

program.cc, h

class program: just some generic option handling.

main.cc

Just the main () to parse command line and call class hexfile to do its job.

9. Changes

This document has been revised after first released with the 1.0 programmer. The changes include some information about new software and more accurate links to PIC information. Also information about Linux kernels has been updated - the current kernels no more need a patch to implement the necessary ioctl functionality.

Version 1.0.1 release of the software comes after four years of silence. It only contains some simplifications of code and fixes that are needed for updated compilers.

10. Other available programmers

serp-0.5 (serp-0.5.tgz)

A serial port programmer software for Linux, written in c++, author Ralph Metzler, rjkm@thp.uni-koeln.de. It directly handles the serial hardware, standard 16450/16550 compatible uarts, and needs root priviledges for that.

jdm84v23 (jdm84v23.zip, pgm84v23.zip)

A serial port programmer, schema (gif) and DOS software. The hardware manages with rs-232 interfaces with low voltage output, even as low as ±7V is fine. 300dpi layout and PCB masks available at the home page. Author Jens Madsen, Jens.Madsen@post3.tele.dk. This is the programmer I use with linux with my own software.

I did a minor modification to the jdm84v23 schema and pcb mask, because I thought D4 was stressed on positive clock pulses - it short circuits the rs-232 RTS pin to GND. I added a 10k resistor there. I believe it does not do any harm. But it also is not absolutely required, as the clock pulses are short and rs-232 is protected for short circuits.

pip-02/com84 (pip-02.zip)

A serial port programmer, schema (gif) and DOS software. Needs +12V rs-232 positive voltage level.

prog84-0.9 (prog84-0.9.tar.gz)

A parallel port programmer, schema (postscript) and software for Linux, Written by Wim Lewis: wiml@netcom.com or wiml@hhhh.org. This is based to the dvtait84 package.

dvtait84, pic84faq (dvtait84.zip, pic84faq.zip)

A parallel port programmer, schema (ascii) and DOS software with basic and turbo-C sources included. Author David Tait, david.tait@man.ac.uk. He has a lot more stuff, and some new designs to program other PICs in his PIC links page.

mjcox84 (mjcox84.zip)

A parallel port programmer, no schema, written in assembler for DOS with 486/33 timings. Very limited. Author: Mark J Cox, m.j.cox@bradford.ac.uk.

ngoodw84 (ngoodw84.zip)

A parallel port programmer and disassembler, no schema, seems to use pins DATA1 = data and DATA2 = clock and needs external programming voltage. From Everyday Practical Electronics, February 1996, author Derren Crome. Disassembler by Nigel Goodwin nigelg@lpilsley.demon.co.uk.

Minimized PIC16C84 Programmer

Parallel port programmer, DOS software, needs external 13V power source. Author Stephen M. Nolan, nolan@isc-durant.com.

11. Available languages

Free compilers

picasm105 (picasm105.tar.gz)

Assembler in ANSI-C by Timo Rossi. Outputs both IHX16 and IHX8M. Looks pretty nice. You can also find disassemblers for 12 bit and 14 bit PIC's.

asm_c84 (asm_c84.zip)

Assembler in ANSI-C by James Cleverdon, jamesc@sequent.com. No INCLUDE, no IF, outputs IHX8M. The manual.

SIL

I have heard of free SIL language (something like Pascal/M2) compiler for PIC. GNU GPL version for Linux is under construction and should be available in Internet soon.

Commercial demos

HI-TECH Software C compiler

A demo is available of their currently beta version compiler.

12. Other software

PSIM

PIC simulator for 16Cxx

13. Patches

picprog-1.0-picprog870.diff

Fuszenecker Robert <hg8lhs@bsd.hu> sent me this diff to make picprog-1.0 work with PIC16F870. I have not tested this but please give it a try if you like.

14. Copyright notice

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

The author may be contacted at:

Email: Jaakko.Hyvatti@iki.fi
URL: http://www.iki.fi/hyvatti/
Phone: +358 40 5011222

Please send any suggestions, bug reports, success stories etc. to the Email address above.