We’ve covered Microchip’s MPLABX IDE over the course of the year, and were very excited to see the news that MPLABX is finally out of beta! MPLABX v1.0 has been released, and is available for download here, along with release notes and the latest copies of the various Microchip compilers.

Among other things, MPLABX offers the following features:

• Java-based, cross platform GUI: Program PICs on Mac, Windows, or Linux
• Refreshed, improved graphical user interface
• (Most of) the same great functionality from MPLAB 8

We are very excited about this project. MPLABX represents the first official cross-platform compiler/IDE (that we’re aware of), and we hope other chip companies follow in their path.

(via Dangerous Prototypes)

Last week, we discussed Microchip’s open source stack initiative. Dangerous Prototypes is back with the latest news from the front. Via Microchip (Dangerous Prototypes):

Prizes look like they’ll be around $1000 for each stack developed/ported and that’s in your pocket. We’ll gross up the amount to cover the taxes. I spoke with our Development Tools team and they have 10 chipKIT MAX32 boards and Network Shields that they’ll donate to the first 10 people to sign up.

[The contest page is here]. The submission email address is ChipKit.Contest@microchip.com. If you have any difficulties whatsoever, just post here and I’ll keep an eye on the blog. As for the 10 kits we have to give away, I kind of like the idea that the first 10 submissions will each get a kit. If anyone has any objections to this we can certainly modify this requirement based on suggestions. Nothing’s set in stone for that portion of the contest. Anyhoo…good luck!!

(continue reading…)

Big news for the day! A few weeks back, Ian Lesnet and the Dangerous Prototypes crew posted a blog regarding the Microchip ChipKit development kit. For the uninitiated, the ChipKit is essentially Microchip’s long-awaited response to the very popular Arduino development kit. Criticisms were rightfully raised about the open source content of some of Microchip’s software. Rather than ignore the issue entirely or issue some sort of rebuttal, Microchip chose to do the right thing and work with the open source community. (continue reading…)

Beta 7 of Microchip’s cross-platform MPLABX IDE is now available. The IDE can be downloaded over at the MPLABX download page. Additionally, tutorials and help information for MPLABX are available here.

In addition to MPLABX, the Microchip C compilers on the downloads page have all been updated. Updated compilers are: C30 v3.30b, C32 v2.0, C18 v3.40, PICC 9.82, PICC18 v9.66. Head on over and check it out!

Fresh of the presses! Microchip announced their powerful new “E” series of microcontrollers today.

Via Microchip:

Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, analog and Flash-IP solutions, today announced 60 MIPS 16-bit dsPIC® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) and PIC24 microcontrollers (MCUs). Based upon the next-generation dsPIC DSC/PIC24 MCU core, the 60 MIPS dsPIC33 and PIC24 “E” devices offer larger (536 KB) Flash memory, more RAM (52 KB), greater I/O capability with 144-pin packages, a USB 2.0 OTG interface, and expanded motor-control, graphics, audio, and real-time embedded-control capabilities over the previous-generation dsPIC DSC/PIC24 MCU core. In support of the first nine dsPIC33 and PIC24 “E” devices released today, Microchip launched two USB starter kits and five Plug-In Modules (PIMs) that can be used with its Multimedia Expansion Board, motor-control development kits, and Explorer 16 development platforms. Also available are 30 software libraries and application notes on topics such as speech and audio, encryption/decryption, communications, and motor control. The new devices and comprehensive support package help customers create high-performance designs in less time.

Read the press release for more. It’s a pretty big announcement, with lots of new products, libraries, and tools. 144-pin packages, a staggering list of features, 60 MIPS operation, what would you use these for? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

We’ve been tracking the progress of Microchip’s new MPLABX IDE since it was first announced last fall. It’s gone from the original version to beta 4 to beta 5. Looks like MPLABX Beta 6 is now available. Via the Microchip forums, beta 6 includes the following new features:

New Features:

Assembly color syntax highlighting
Smart tool selection
Returned Program Button
Programmer to go
PIC18FJ Starter kit.
FRC in debug mode
Graphical Memory usage in environment display
Tool status in environment display
Manual firmware downloads
dsPIC33EP device support
Instrumented trace for PIC32
Limited stimulus capability
Multiple configuration cleaned up
Third party compiler support:

PICBASIC PRO
CCSC (Only in Windows and requires latest beta release from vendor)
SDCC (Linux/Windows, not tested in Mac). No source level debugging. Plugin courtesy of Rodrigo Almeida.

Looks great! Head over to the download page now and get yourself a copy.

Microchip announced the release of a few new 16-bit microcontrollers today.
via Microchip:

The PIC24F32KA304 family expands upon the popular PIC24F16KA family by adding twice as much Flash program memory and 30% more RAM, which provides even more support for wireless-communication protocol stacks. Additionally, the numbers of timers and Pulse-Width Modulators were tripled; the numbers of UART, I2C™ and SPI channels doubled; the Analog-to-Digital Converter resolution quadrupled to 12-bits; and the pin count increased to 44-pins, over the PIC24F16KA family. The new PIC24F32KA304 MCUs’ intelligent mTouch sensing module includes a Charge Time Measurement Unit (CTMU) that performs automated scan in sleep mode, enabling extremely low-power capacitive sensing. Further, as many touch-sensing applications are battery powered, this new CTMU dramatically reduces current, thereby conserving even more battery power. As many automotive and white-good applications require operation up to 5V, these MCUs simplify power-supply design by eliminating the need for discrete voltage regulators, and providing full analog performance up to 5V.

This looks very exciting, and we can’t wait to try this out! What do you think? Include your thoughts in the comments below.

Finally!

The folks over at Microchip finally released their latest beta, Beta 5, of their upcoming cross-platform IDE, MPLABX. You can see the announcement here and download the beta here.

via DangerousPrototypes

Finally!

We blogged about MPLABX, Microchip’s upcoming cross-platform IDE for working with PIC microcontrollers, some time ago. The software is still in beta, with an official release expected some time in January. At the time of the original post, while it was very exciting that MPLABX was up and coming and that it would provide cross-platform PIC IDE support, it was frustrating that certain pieces of software, namely the Microchip C compilers, were unavailable for some platforms (Mac OSX, in particular).

Today, however, I can excitedly report that all compilers for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux are now available, in addition to the MPLABX IDE. Furthermore, beta version 4.1 has been released if you are running the Windows platform. You can head over to the MPLABX download page and get started testing out the software before the January 2011 release (tutorials and other resources are available here). If you do, let us know what you think in the comments below.

UPDATE: There was some initial confusion about C18 that forced us to pull the post. The mplabc18.app that is downloaded from the above site needs to be unzipped in order to work, so try that if you’re experiencing problems.

As a Macbook owner and somebody who does PIC development, I have long had to dual boot Windows to do PIC programming work. Some options for programming PICs in Mac OS X exist, but none of them are officially supported by Microchip.

Until now… apparently the folks at Microchip have heard my prayers and are readying MPLAB X for release. From the project wiki page:

MPLAB^® X IDE is a software program that runs on a PC (Windows^®, Mac OS^®, Linux^®) to develop applications for Microchip microcontrollers and digital signal controllers. It is called an Integrated Development Environment, or IDE, because it provides a single integrated “environment” to develop code for embedded microcontrollers.

Awesome! The official release of MPLAB X is slated for release January 2011, but you can download the beta version for the time being. We’ll be following the development and release of the tool in the coming months, so stay tuned!

[thanks bitkiller]