Chameleon-PIC Nurve Networks, Chameleon-PIC Datasheet - Page 79

• 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

15.0 Installing the Toolchains: MPLAB, TextPad, and Propeller IDE
The first step in developing applications for the Chameleon PIC is to install the tool chains and all their components. Since
the Chameleon PIC (AVR is) is NOT YET compatible with the Ardunio tool chain, we are going to instead cover the
installation of an alternative serial bootloader provided for us by Microchip. In addition to the command line serial
bootloader tools we will install a simple text editor that can be used as a replacement of the Microchip MPLAB IDE.
However for those who have a PICkit 2 programmer we will also cover the standard MPLAB tool chain installation as well
as the PICkit 2 stand alone GUI. Also, the Chameleon’s PIC is pre-loaded with the Microchip bootloader in its flash
memory. So if you don’t have a PICkit 2 programmer, or you simply don’t want to deal with MPLAB you can work with the
bootloader toolchain and PIC24 C compiler alone. However, I still recommend you skim the discussion of MPLAB since
it’s a much more powerful tool than the command line tools.
Additionally, the Chameleon has a Parallax Propeller chip on it, so we have to install that tool as well, so there is a lot to
do. We are going to show the installations of the tool in the following order:
If you do not own a PICkit 2 or similar in-circuit-programmer then you can skim the first section.
15.1 Microchip’s MPLAB IDE Toolchain Overview
Microchip’s MPLAB is the premier development tool for PIC processors. The tool is 100% free, supports assembly
language natively and allows multiple C-compilers to be plugged-in.
Like all tool chains this can be quite complex and a single incorrect checkbox can wreak havoc on many installation
making them useless. For this reason, we will cover the installation of all main tools in the chain step by step. For those of
you reading that are already expert in the installation of MPLAB then you can skim this section and jump to the PIC24 C
compiler installation.
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MPLAB IDE
PICkit 2 hardware and software
PIC 24 C compiler (a.k.a. C30 compiler)
TextPad and Serial Bootloader
Propeller IDE
Part II – Programming Manual
© 2009 NURVE NETWORKS LLC “Exploring the Chameleon PIC 16-Bit”
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