Chameleon-PIC Nurve Networks, Chameleon-PIC Datasheet - Page 24

• Manufacturer Part Number: Chameleon-PIC
• Description: MCU, MPU & DSP Development Tools PIC24 & PROPELLER DEV SYSTEM (SBC)
• Manufacturer: Nurve Networks

Specifications of Chameleon-PIC

• Processor To Be Evaluated: PIC24
• Data Bus Width: 16 bit
• Interface Type: USB, VGA, PS/2, I2C, ISP, SPI
• Operating Supply Voltage: 3.3 V, 5 V
• Lead Free Status / RoHS Status: Lead free / RoHS Compliant

© 2009 NURVE NETWORKS LLC “Exploring the Chameleon PIC 16-Bit”
MPLAB is shown in Figure 1.7, it’s a standard Windows application that is used to develop applications for the entire line
of PIC microcontrollers. It’s very similar to Visual C++ with context highlighting, project management, etc. The IDE allows
viewing of the various files and statistics as builds are performed. The IDE supports many different plug-in compilers from
different vendors.
Since PIC processors have become very popular globally, there are also many different third party tools, compilers, and
programmers. For the sake of keeping all of the software tools consistent we are going to stick with the Microchip line of
products. In that regard we will also be using a C compiler and Assembler provided by Microchip that is specifically made
for the PIC24 processors. The PIC24 assembly language tool chain is called ASM30. The C compiler is called C30 but
with recent changes to the naming conventions by Microchip we have a new name – PIC24 C compiler. Regardless of the
name, the fact remains that we will be using a command line compiler and assembler that integrates into the MPLAB IDE
environment. This all becomes very seamless and we will cover the installation procedures shortly.
The IDE contains projects that are composed of Assembly files, C files, object files, library files, and linker scripts. The
working method is to write all of your code in MPLAB, and then compile and assemble it using the ASM30 and C30
compiler we setup and then use a device programmer to erase, program, and verify the flash memory on the PIC24.
MPLAB allows in-circuit debugging capabilities as well as processor simulation. Debugging the hardware PIC24 chip
requires a debugging capable programmer. A inexpensive programmer with this ability is the PICkit 2™ In-circuit Serial
Programmer (ISP) that can be purchased separately. In addition to hardware debugging you also have access to an
excellent simulator built into MPLAB. The simulator works much faster as far as stepping through and watching variables
as opposed to the debugger. There is even a stop watch timer that allows users to time critical sections of code for
analysis. The downside with the simulator is that you will not be able to test peripherals like the UARTs, SPI, and the
media processor capabilities provided by the Parallax Propeller.
Figure 1.8 – The Parallax Propeller Chip block diagram.
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