You can learn from our mistakes.
UART communication is an easy way to communicate between two microcontrollers, between a microcontroller and some peripheral, or even between the microcontroller and the computer. UART serial communication is the equivalent of RS-232 on a computer, though the logic levels are different and requires a converter. The UART is easy to use, but you have [...]
Creating Devices in EAGLE Part II – The Symbol and Device
For those who watch only the video, please also read the first paragraph as it has a few notes that I didn’t cover in the video.
Having created the package for the 2.5 Digit LCD in the last post, I’ll be creating the corresponding symbol [...]
Creating Devices in EAGLE Part I – The Package
Now with better videos!
While EAGLE includes plenty of parts in the libraries that come with it, I’ve never done a project (besides the example for this site) that didn’t require at least a couple of devices that I couldn’t find in EAGLE. Sometimes I’ve even thought [...]
Programming your PIC without a demo board is a straightforward task, when you know what you’re doing (aren’t they all?). With the proper hardware, setting up your programmer should take almost no time at all. To do this, you will need two data sheets; the data sheet for the PICkit 2 and the [...]
Merging – A Complicated Process
One of the biggest frustrations I faced when I started using EAGLE was the apparent inability to merge a board in EAGLE. I say merge, because making a copy of a current project is simple: just go to File, click Save As…, and you’ll create a new copy of your board [...]
Seven Segment LED – Board
In this post, I’ll cover doing the board layout for the seven segment led. For reference, I’ve included the same toolbar buttons in this post as I did last time. Some of them don’t apply to laying out a board, but since they’re the basic tools you’ll use, [...]
So, do you remember, long ago, when I mentioned that I didn’t know why the PICkit 2 would have that warning about configuration words when importing the hex file? No? Well, I did. Anyway, I figured it out and wanted to share with you exactly what I’ve learned. And, as always, [...]
Using the PICkit 2
The PICkit 2 is a very common way to program your PIC. It can handle a wide variety of PICs and seems to be the established standard for the normal person to program their PIC microcontroller. Since last time we created a .hex file for this moment, lets go through [...]