Overview
MikroElektronika's BIGPIC5 is an advanced development board for
Microchip's PIC microcontrollers and is aimed specifically at developers
working with 64 and 80-pin PICs on applications requiring a large
number of I/O lines and advanced peripheral capabilities. The new BIGPIC5
includes a
high-speed USB programmer and in-circuit debugger plus many
advanced built-in I/O features.
The BIGPIC5 is
supplied with a removable PIC18F8520 MCU board and provides everything you
need to start developing for, experimenting with or learning about this
microcontroller. Additional MCU boards may be ordered separately for both
the PIC18F8520 and PIC18F8722 as can empty MCU boards for users wanting to
add their own 64 or 80-pin PICs where surface mount soldering facilities are
available.
By including the programmer, in-circuit debugger, PIC MCU board and useful I/O devices on one board, the
BIGPIC5 will save you having to waste time trying to set up individual
programmers, debuggers, prototyping boards and I/O devices. Use of one of MikroElektronika's compilers with their included library routines and example
programs also makes developing faster and avoids the need to struggle with
hardware and software from different manufacturers.
The BIGPIC5's low cost,
ease of use, reliability and wealth of built-in features also make it an
excellent platform for the teaching of microcontrollers in colleges and
universities.
Using the BIGPIC5
The BIGPIC5 is incredibly easy to set up and use. On first connecting
it to the USB port of your PC using the lead provided, Windows will prompt
you to install a driver from the supplied CD-ROM. The PIC18F8520 on the
plug-on MCUboard that comes fitted to the BIGPIC5 is pre-programmed with a
demonstration program that runs immediately. You can then install the
PICFlash2 programming software, also on the CD-ROM, and reprogram the
PIC with any of the included pre-compiled example programs to try out the
board's I/O features and get a taste of the sort of projects that you can
develop.
To write your own programs, you can use the assembler in
Microchip's freely available MPLAB software or any make of PIC assembler or
compiler that generate HEX files. However use of MikroElektronika's
MikroBASIC, MikroC and MikroPascal compilers is recommended as these come
with library routines that support all the BIGPIC5's built-in I/O devices
and MikroElektronika's optional interface boards, as well as allowing for
use of the BIGPIC5's MikroICD in-circuit debugger. Demonstration
versions of these three compilers are included, which enable you to write
programs up to 2K in size, or you can save money on the individual prices
and buy one of our starter packs that also include full versions of the
compilers.
Your programs can make full use of the BIGPIC5's I/O devices and any that
are not required can be disabled by way of clearly labelled jumpers and DIP
switches. MikroElektronika's range of optional interface boards can be
fitted to the BIGPIC5 and it is also straightforward to connect your own
circuits as the PIC's I/O lines are available on nine 10-way IDC headers.
The supplied PIC18F8520 MCU board can easily be removed and replaced with
the optional PIC18F8722 board.
Specifications
Supported PICs
The following list gives the PICs currently supported by
the BIGPIC5 in numerical order.
PIC18F Family
PIC18F8520, PIC18F8722
