In Part 1 of this tutorial I am going to show how to set up the Microchip MPLAB IDE with the free MPLAB C Lite Compilers.
In Part 2 we are going to open up a sample MPLAB project and compile it. The sample project is the GluonPilot FreeRTOS based autopilot.
Microchip MPLAB IDE
MPLAB Preamble
Microchip has provided a FREE Lite version of their paid MPLAB C compilers. The only limitation on the Lite version of the MPLAB C compiler is that it doesn't offer advanced compiler optimizations and as such makes slightly larger Hex firmware files. This isn't a big problem for most hobbyists getting started in microcontroller programming. The nice thing about the Lite compilers is the fact they don't have any saving limitations and they don't expire.
Here is a photo of the new textbook A SURVEY OF MATHEMATICS WITH APPLICATIONS 9th Edition
Yesterday I got my copy of the new textbook A SURVEY OF MATHEMATICS WITH APPLICATIONS 9th Edition from Pearson.
This new edition of the textbook was published on January 6, 2012 and has special meaning to me because it features a photo of my prototype sierpinski fractal antenna design in the chapter on Non-Euclidean Geometry and Fractal Geometry (page 555). I have always found fractals interesting and I am really proud that Pearson selected my image to use in their textbook.
As I flipped through the textbook today I was impressed with the improvement in the quality and readability of math textbooks since I was a student!
This textbook has been updated with modern references and provides quite a few real world math problems for students to study. The graphic design of the textbook is top-notch with excellent colour illustrations that will help to explain mathematic concepts to the reader.
Here is a photo of page 555 from the math textbook that features my fractal antenna image.
Here my name, Andrew Hazelden, is listed in the credits section of the textbook.
For my 200th bog post I would like to present a preview of a graphical bootloader I'm developing for the handheld computer called the mikroMMB from MikroElektronika.
The firmware is called dsFreeloader and it will allow you to browse through a grid of HEX firmware files and bootload them using the microSD card reader. This means you could load hundreds of firmware files on a single microSD card and then launch them with a tap of a button.
The dsFreeloader firmware supports automatic display rotation using the built-in accelerometer and comes with a few programs like an egg timer app and a flashlight app.
There is still a lot of work to be done before it is ready for any public testing. I have the first version of the user interface working with a few built-in Apps. Right now I am working on the microSD card based bootloader code. This project will need a few months of development and testing before it will be available for download.
I just completed a new touch based game called Snowburst for the mikromedia gaming system.
In the game you have to tap to the screen to melt the falling snowflakes before you get snowed in. If you miss a snow flake the snowbank gets higher. Every 500 points the snowbank starts to melt a bit. You can play with two fingers but be sure to tap only one snowflake at a time. If you tap the status bar at the bottom of the screen you can mute the background music.
Snowburst was created using MikroC Pro for dsPIC 5.40 and VisualTFT.
Tip: Melt the small snowflakes first because they fall the fastest.
Here is the title screen from the Snowburst game.
Can you melt all of the snowflakes before you are covered in snow?
Created just in time for Christmas is a falling snowflakes graphics demo for the MikroElektronika dsPIC 33 Mikromedia board. The demo was created using MikroC Pro for dsPIC and VisualTFT. The demo features a winter theme with randomly generated snow particles. Each snowflake has a random position, size, and speed value.
This is a snowy graphics demo for the Mikromedia board.
Edit: This demo has been expanded into the Snowburst game.
Since my friends over at MikroElektronika are celebrating their 10th Birthday I wanted to do something special to say thanks.
This evening I created an example for the mikroMedia dsPIC 33 MMB that lets you celebrate a birthday by blowing out a virtual candle. You get to blow out the candle on a cupcake by tapping the touch screen on a mikromedia MMB. After two seconds the candle lights itself up again and you can repeat the process.
MikroBirthday was created using MikroC Pro for dsPIC 5.20 and VisualTFT.
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