News on DonkeyProg:
No Progress on MP-II.
However, if you'd like to visit my web site, you'll see a whole lot more on DPXE - DonkeyProg eXtended Edition. Comments always welcome!
Addition: A preliminary specification for the chipinfo file used with DPXE is now available from the site. It's basically a simplified version of the P19 chipinfo file.
posted by LogicSpark @ 1:32 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Hi Stuart,
DPXE sounds good. In particular I think the "proprietary" part will save you a lot of grief and give you more time to get the extended - and actually quite successful - DonkeyProg up and running. It will certainly be ages before Bob or anyone else has the time to finish the full-blown MP-II firmware and, let's face it, most of us just want to effectively read and write the major current chips. So, off you go. Good health and good luck.
The fact is that DIY stops their USB PIC programmers software updates more than a year ago so I really appreciate your efforts to keep the programmers working with new PICs. Please go ahead with DPXE because MP-II firmware seems will not be available for a looong time (may be never?)
At this point, DPXE is quite well advanced in development - about at the same stage as MP-II, in fact. The difference, of course, is that for the initial release of DPXE I already have working firmware, so can continue on to develop the actual chip burning side of things.
I'm trying to develop DPXE as a viable alternative to MP-II/P19, so the program is very flexible - to the point of correctly interpreting HEX files for PIC10/12/16 as well as the 18s. It just remains to sort out exactly how to program the myriad of different PIC devices and ensure compatibility with newer devices like PIC24/30/33 etc.
My intention is to do what I think Bob originally intended, and use a strategies-based system similar to that found on Microchip's ICD2. With appropriately clever coding in DPXE, this would allow users to write their own algorithms for any new/oddball devices they want to use. However, that's for the future - DPXE will initially use the existing DonkeyProg firmware - which, incidentally, appears to program a lot more devices than I thought, maybe Microchip have standardized on this algorithm for new devices...
best bet would be to keep it simple for a start. The present chips are important, not what Microchip might do in three months or three years. Hope to see a DPXE soon.
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