Confirmed: New Controller programmable in C
 

here is the latest email from first in it tells the truth with the new O/I and RC.

"The rumors are true; a new control system is coming. The new RC has a user programmable Microchip PIC" controller operating at 10 MIPS, gives direct access to I/O, has interrupts, and is programmable in C. Please do not contact Innovation First requesting information as more details will be available at www.InnovationFirst.com in the next few weeks when the product ships."

Thats a clipit form Bob Hammond's listserv email announcement!

~Michael

SWEET. I wonder what compiler they will be providing. I hope it is either Metrowerks, CCS, or Hi-Tech.

Any guesses on whether we can use gcc or derivitive with a library or something?

If the new controller has a PIC Microchip on it then I would assume the C compiler will be the one from Microchip

I will have to check their website and see if you can get their C compiler for free. I know the assembler compiler and simulation tools for the Microchip devices are available for free.

PIC chips are pretty cool. You can do a lot of stuff with them fairly easy.

looked at MicroChip's website. They do have SW development tools that include a C compiler and an assembler

It looks like its not a free download however, so if this is what FIRST is planning on using, I guess the SW will be part of the kit.

You can look around the MicroChip website to see what kind of stuff they have - here is a page that has one of their C compilers:

http://www.microchip.com/1010/pline/...ab17/index.htm

At Tech, an I'm sure at most other universities, we have embedded microcontroller classes. One of the classes uses the PIC18F452. Here is a link to the class website. If you click on PICbook you can access a few free downloads for this pic (not sure about the compatability with others). Take a look around, you may find something you can use. If not then as KenWittlief said, check the Microchip website.

http://piclab.ece.gatech.edu/

I found the Microchip C compiler package at DigiKey

its $395.

if thats what we will be using, guess Ill wait till we get it from FIRST :c)

If it's a standard PIC controller... is there any reason we have to wait for their compiler?

Can't we just use an existing one?

Whoa!! since when does mirochip have their own compiler?

The MPLAB C18 C Compiler has a free demo available from Microchip's website.

http://www.microchip.com/1010/pline/...ab18/index.htm

Ok, I'm not good with this kind of stuff, so I have a few questions

What does 10MIPS mean?

What does it mean by "direct access to I/O"?

lastly, what does "has interrupts" mean?

MIPS is million instructions per second

Direct access to I/O means that you can access the pin inputs and ouputs for the controller and read and/or manipulate their values directly.

Interrupts are what a controller uses to perform other tasks outside the main program loop. The processor goes off for a while to process the interrupt and comes back to the main code where it left off (Could be used for sensor polling etc).

You should grab a good book on microcontrollers if you are really interested. It should explain all this stuff. Or just do a search on google.

Thanks.

So interrupts effectively facilitate good function jumps then?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by a "function jump", but the way I understand it, when the system encounters an interrupt, it executes a predefined function, and then goes straight back to where it left off.

At the machine level, the system pushes the program counter (the address of the instruction it was at before it received the interrupt) into a stack, stores any important information, and jumps to the code of the function that should be run on the given interrupt. Once the interrupt's code has completed, the original address is popped out of the stack, and all of the aforementioned important information is put back in its original place.

I hope I got that all right. If not, please correct me.