Compiling PIC projects

You don't need a Microchip programmer to develop firmware for most of our PIC microcontroller-based projects. You can use Microchip's free development tools and upload code with the bootloader.

Microchip's tools are all Windows-only, but there are beta version available for Linux and Mac.

IDE

Download and install Microchip's IDE called MPLAB.

MPLABX is Microchip's new cross-platform IDE and compilers for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

C compiler

Some projects require a C compiler. We use Microchip's free demonstration compilers with MPLAB. The demo compilers have certain optimizations that expire after 60 days, but we don't use those anyway.

• C18 Compiler for PIC 18F
• C30 Compiler for PIC 24F/33F

Project	PIC	Compiler
#twatch	18F67J60	C18
USB IR Toy	18F2550	C18
Flash Destroyer	18F2550	C18
Logic Sniffer	18F24J50	C18
Bus Pirate	24FJ64GA002	C30
Web Platform	33FJ128GP204	C30

Non-distributables

A problem we're still working around is Microchip's source code license. The source is freely available from the Microchip website, but they don't allow us to distribute it.

You need to download and install the Microchip source yourself. Drag the Dangerous Prototypes source folder into the install location (usually Microchip Solutions). We're working on alternatives, as listed below.

Source	Used in	Open Alternatives
"free" TCP/IP stack (old versions now available)	#twatch, Web Platform	uIP stack port
"free" FAT32 file system	Web Platform	1 DosFS FatFs
"free" USB stack	USB IR Toy, Logic Sniffer	The JTR-Honken USB stack is now running on the USB IR Toy firmware v20+

Compiling

1. Open the project in MPLAB
2. Compile the project (down arrow stack of papers icon)

You may need to modify the compiler location when prompted, but MPLAB is getting better about making these changes automatically.

Export for bootloader

Some compiled firmware must be exported in order to work with the bootloader.

Exporting in MPLAB X

If you need to configure the program memory area end address (see table below), this needs to be done in the project's settings before compiling and exporting:

1. To configure the end address in MPLAB X, go to File -> Project Properties and select the configuration (usually Conf: default) from the list on the left.
2. Select a PIC programmer device from the list on the right; if you don't actually have any of the devices, select PICKit3.
3. Click Apply.
4. Select the PIC programming device (e.g., PICKit3) from list on the left.
5. Select Memories to Program from the menu on the right.
6. Set the option Auto select memories and ranges to Manually select memories and ranges.
7. Tick the box for Program Memory and below that enter the end value (from the table below)
8. Click OK to close the settings.

After configuring the end address (if required), build the project by selecting Run -> Clean and build main project (or select Clean and build from the project's context menu). This creates a .hex file in the build directory (the last few lines of the build output should mention its name and path).

You can also export the .hex file by selecting Export hex from the project's context menu (right-click the project's name in the project list to bring up the menu).

Exporting in MPLAB 8

1. In MPLAB 8, go to File->Export...
2. Make sure that Program Memory is checked and the Configuration Bits box matches the required setting
3. Change the export end address if needed (see table below)
4. Make sure INHX32 (Intel 32bit HEX) is selected on the File Format tab
5. Click OK to export the firmware.

Project-specific export settings

Project	Required?	End address	Config bits?	EEPROM?
#twatch	yes	0x1dbbf	yes	-
Bus Pirate v3 (bootloader v4.x)	yes	0xa7fa	no	-
Logic Sniffer	yes	(default)	no	-
USB Infrared Toy	no	(default)	yes	optional
Web Platform	no	0×153fe	yes	-
Flash Destroyer	no	(default)	yes	optional
Bus Pirate v4	no	(default)	yes or no

Note: If an end address is required but the value in the table above is not accepted, it may be that the value is required to be of the form (0x100 * n – 1). This means a hexadecimal value with the last two digits ff. You can try either the next smallest or next largest such value (next smallest is safer but costs up to about 250 bytes of program space). For example, for the Bus Pirate v3 the suggested end address is 0xa7fa, but MPLAB X wants to have 0xa6ff (preferred) or 0xa7ff instead.