[Yuriy]

Hello everyone,

I have searched for several days for the answers I seek with little success so I decided to just ask. I recently purchased a VEX starter kit and programming module after reading the system is designed around the PIC series of microcontrollers, specifically the 80-pin PIC18F8520. I have some experience programming with PIC and dsPIC devices and already have MPLAB and the C18/C30 compiler along with Hi-Tech and CCS PCWH C compilers. I understand the VEX microcontroller module consists of two 80-pin PIC18F8520 devices and is programmed via a serial/USB bootloader style format. What I’m not sure of is what exactly the Master PIC is responsible for and to what level if any can it be programmed/controlled? I realize it holds the bootloader that communicates with the IFI loader software via a USART I/O module and is what programs the second PIC via SPI which holds the user programmable software. I would guess that the Master PIC bootloader code is not being made public. So, what I would really like to know is what level of control I have over the 80-pin PIC18F8520 devices in the VEX microcontroller module? Can any one tell me what ports from the 80-pin PIC18F8520 devices correspond to on the VEX microcontroller module? As many of you already know the 80-pin PIC18F8520 has Ports A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H and J, knowing the actual hardware port being utilized would greatly help with the programming. Any information concerning hardware level control would be great as the documentation that came with the programming kit provides none.