Picprg is a project mainly written in C, based on the GPL-2.0 license.
PIC microprocessor programmer
PIC programmer is a program to use a PIC programmer attached to the parallel port of a PC running Linux. It currently only supports programming the 16C84 processors. It can support a wide range of programmer styles through the configuration menu.
You should run the program as root, because it needs direct access to the parallel port to control the programmer. If you are running it from an xterm you should set TERM=xterm-color so that ncurses will display the colors correctly.
Non-color displays should automaticly be detected. If you have problems, run picprg with the '-m' argument to turn on the monochrome mode.
The latest release is v2.3 as of 08/23/2002
Type 'make' and 'make install' to build the program and install it as suid root in /usr/local/bin (remember that this may be a potential security hole) with permissions set to 4700. I am using it under Linux kernel v2.0.33 with ncurses v1.9.9g hopefully you won't have to do anything extra to get it to work on your system. If you have problems or need to make changes, please tell me and I will try to incorporate them into the next release.
v2.3.0 now works with kernel v2.4.18 on a customized RH 7.3 install using ncurses 5.2-26 from the RedHat package.
You should know which parallel port pins your programmer is attached to. Also, you should have a voltmeter or some other device to indicate power during the setup test. Run the program with the -p option to tell it which parallel port your programmer is attached to. For example if your programmer is attached to /dev/lp1 like mine is then you would run it like this:
picprg -p1
You will see the main screen, press C to get to the configuration menu. You will see a list of selections with the cursor on the parallel port. Use the up and down arrows to switch between options.
PIC programmer is initially setup for a normal David Tait style programmer, if this is what you are using, jump ahead to the 'Testing It Out' section. Enter the pin numbers for each connection on your programmer (valid numbers are from 1-17). If your programmer uses an inverter on that line then press '-' to select the inverted state.
Now, get out your voltmeter, or whatever you are going to use for detecting power (it should be able to handle at least 13v). Connect GND to pin 5 on your programming socket. Then select Vpp in the configuration menu and hit 'O' and 'F' to turn it on and off. You should see pin 4 going from 0v to 13v or so (depends on the programmer). Repeat this for each of the pins listed below:
Vpp - pin 4 Vdd - pin 14 Clock - pin 12 Data Out - pin 13
The state of the Data In pin should be the same state as the Data Out pin.
Once you have all the voltages swinging the right direction hit 'S' to save the configuration to ~/.picprgrc, now all you have to type to run it is picprg. You are all ready to start using PIC programmer!
I used to have support for Ian King's pictools format, but since I can't find Ian on the net anymore, and since it really was a non-standard format (Microchip defines that the eeprom and config bits have memory locations) I have dropped support for pictools.
I do support Intel HEX 16 format, which will be supported by any decent assembler that you can find (I recommend picasm v1.05+). The fuse and eeprom locations can be defined in the configuration menu if they are not in the standard locations.
v2.0 had a bug in it. It actually only supported INHX8M formatted files. This was because when I first wrote the program I used code from Ian King, and he mis-labeled the code (and there was some confusion as to what 8m and 16 really were). The 8M format has the bytes reversed and the address count doubled (because it works on byte by byte). INHX16 uses the normal byte ordering (MSB first, just as God intended it to be!) and address counts.
Through a miracle of modern programming (Hmm, I'm starting to sound like a Microsoft marketing type) I now support both formats automaticly. Just type in the filename and the program will figure it out. I recommend using INHX16 though -- it makes more sense and I hate it when you have to end up supporting bad formats just because everyone else does it (sound familiar?).
When a file is loaded it is stored in the internal buffer. The clock type and fuse states are displayed on the second line of the display while the file is in memory. The clock type and fuse states are determined by looking for the addresses defined in the configuration menu.
This will write a Intel HEX 16 format file with the eeprom and fuse data in the locations defined in the configuration menu.
Make sure the programmer is connected correctly and that the processor is plugged in correctly. Hit the 'R' key from the main menu and the data from the processor will be read into the internal buffer and its clock type and fuse states will be displayed on the second line of the display. As it is reading it will display every 16th address, just to let you know it is working diligently at its task.
Make sure the programmer is connected correctly and that the processor is plugged in correctly and hit P. The data in RAM will be written to the PIC and the 3rd line will display 'Programming PIC.' If any errors are found, they will be displayed showing the address, the value read, and the value expected in the form: ADDR: read != written. It will also display every 16th address as it programs, telling you that its is still working and hasn't taken one of Linus' famous beer breaks.
You can review the loaded RAM image by hitting 'D' from the main menu and using the Arrow keys, page up and down, and space(page down) keys. Editing is not available, I did not think that it was worth the effort of adding it.
When reading a INHX16 file the ID and fuse data are taken from the memory locations specified in the configuration menu. Microchip defines that this be 0x2000, but some people have other ideas.
v2.0 had a slight bug in it
EEPROM data is programmed into the pic from the RAM location specified by the EEaddr in the configuration menu. This value defaults to 0x2100.
Type picprg-? to get a list of options. It looks like this:
Usage: picprg -p[0-2] -i[hex] -e[hex]
-p[0-2] = Parallel port to use -i[hex] = HEX value of ID data address in memory map. -e[hex] = HEX value of EEPROM data address in memory map.
I am planning on adding command line operation soon so that you can read and program the PIC from the command line. If you have any suggestions or comments, please email me at [email protected] -- Check out my webpage for the latest info (including the current temperature in my workroom and computer).
Even if you don't have any comments I'd like to hear from people using the
program, just so that I know someone other than me is using it
Brian
[email protected] http://www.brianlane.com/
I'd like to thank xxx for being the first person to tell me he was using the program, and for reporting a bunch of really dumb bugs. I'd also like to thank Paul Haas for providing the patch that makes it work with open collector programmers.
This program was written by a human. Because of this its reliability cannot be guaranteed in any way. It may or may not work for you, it may work for a while, then quit, or it may work forever. You cannot hold me liable for any lost work, time, etc. as a result of bugs in this program. Like all other software, you use it at your own risk.
It is released under GPL v2.0 which essentially means you can do what you will with it, as long as you give credit and include the source in any downstream derivitive.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
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