I already have the formal response from Microchip. WOW....
I asked:
What is meant on the shipping note by ‘Upgraded device will be shipped as substitutions for out of stock items…. Etc’? Are these board to be replaced? Are the prototypes and my issues are known issues?
Response:
I'm not sure what note you've received, but if you've received the PIC16F18446 Xpress board, we aren't planning on shipping an "Upgraded device".
So, the shipping note has bogus information.
Fast repsonse. About 30 secs!
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What is meant on the shipping note by ‘Upgraded device will be shipped as substitutions for out of stock items…. Etc’? Are these board to be replaced? Are the prototypes and my issues are known issues?
Original text on packing-list:
NOTE: Upgraded device will be shipped as substitutions for out of stock items.
This just means that they will probably 'upgrade' the µPC on the newly delivered board to a higher specced version (like more ram/flash) if the original PIC is out of stock.
If u got it already - u keep that. Nowhere did they promise an upgrade-delivery.
PS: mine has Rev1 printed on backside
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@Peter. Nope. There is no plan to upgrade the µPC. They are not planning on shipping an "Upgraded device" as he told me to ignore the shipping notice.
However, today. Microchip have told me that Product Development for this product will call me for a conf call tomorrow - more information after that conversation.
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Installation of Windows 10 is ok - you can get one error shown previously, so, use the ZIP below.
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to the installation issue. Case #00309614
The board has three USB interfaces:
1) Mass storage (programming by dropping a hex file)
2) Serial port (USB CDC)
3) Data Gateway Interface (custom USB class)
Right now (July 2018) MPLAB X does not come with drivers for 2) and 3) and the Xpress driver package does not contain these eithe. Atmel Studio on the other hand does have these drivers and therefore, if Studio is installed, everything should be fine. If you don't have Studio no drivers for 2) and 3) will be installed on Windows 7/8 and no driver for 3) will be installed on Windows10. However, see below.
Regarding the URL for documentation. This is when you select the link in the virtual Mass storage device. Essentially, you are taken to incorrect page.
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to this issue. Case #00310395
Initially the Xpress board was only available with the PIC16F18446 Sensor Board (http://www.microchip.com/promo/pic16f18446-sensor-board-demonstration - soldered to this board) that is linked by the HTM file. The Xpress board documentation is available through that page also.
However, thank you for reporting, we are now aware of this, therefore we will consider changing the HTM link to take the user to the Xpress page instead of the Sensor Board page.
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-04
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Regarding the documentation being hard to locate and not complete.
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to this issue. Case #00310396
Because this board is not a standard sales item, it lacks some items that makes it easy accessible (e.g. does not have a tools page or shows up in Microchip Direct).
Regarding what is the initial program installed when shipped, and/or is a bootloader installed?
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to this issue. Case #00310394
The FW on the PIC the board comes with is to flash an LED and it does not have a bootloader.
Nice. So, the 16f18446 is essentially a standard part with a demo program.
But, why do we have to power cycle the board sometimes to make 'drag/drop' programming work? We have issues with Windows and Linux. We need to power cycle the board often.
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-04
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News: Support Case 00310397: CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446 - Firmware ERROR!!!! This is where you transfer a program and the program gets corrupted! I have been provided a NEW firmware image for the nEDBG chip. It is intended that the fix should fix the flash programming issue
I need someone else to test. This means reflashing the new board and testing. Seems to work ok here!
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00310396 - CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446 - Serial Communication
Progress
RB4 is connected to the nEDBG UART RX line, RB6 is connected to the nEDBG UART TX line. Any UART character sent to the nEDBG through RB4 is forwarded to the VCP.
Setting the DTR bit in a terminal emulator configured the I/O pins of the nEDBG for transmission. The TX line (connected to RB6) is set as an output in the nEDBG, and the input buffers on the RX line (connected to RB4) is enabled.
Virtual COM port application example: The behavior seen makes sense as the nEDBG sets it's TX line I/O as output when the DTR bit is set, causing a collision when the code sets RB4 as an output as well.
However, the using Terminal.exe on the VPC does not operate as expected - you have to toggle the Baud Rate. CoolTerm.exe does not work. Putty works. Go figure.
00310396 - CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446 -Documentation
It seems like a big pita. The original express board makes me happy, so I'll stick to that for now. What weirdness.... How do they expect a typical person to jump through hoops to get a board working. And as good as the xpress board works, how difficult can this be to do the same thing with a new dev. board? Anyhooooo....
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"We would like to resolve the issues you are seeing before we provide the updated nEDBG firmware and instructions to all users of the PIC16F18446-XPRESS board."
and
"Product Development confirmed that they could recreate part of the issue on their end, specifically the nEDBG seems to configure its I/O ports and allows transmission if the BAUD rate is changed while the port is connected in a terminal. This is a bug that they will look into fixing."
So, some progress as the second firmware I have does not corrupt the HEX file. But, nEDBG firmware is not correct with respect to serial transmission.
With respect to firmware I have. There is some confusion of the version of the firmware...seems that version numbering has got messed up. :-)
Anobium
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It is nice to see that the merger of Microchip and ATMEL is going so
smoothly and that their respective engineers are capable of working
together on Hybrid solutions :)
"My colleagues at the Business Unit confirmed that they could recreate part of the issue on their end, specifically the nEDBG seems to configure its I/O ports and allows transmission if the BAUD rate is changed while the port is connected in a terminal. This is a bug that they will look into fixing."
I am correct in thinking that the goal is that the terminal will work 'out of the box' in terms of transmission from the board. Tell them NOT to break it! :-)
"We see that you use two COM ports, 13 and 20, are both of these PIC16F18446 XPRESS boards?
We also noticed an oddity, at 03:18 you use putty to connect to COM13 with 19200, but the title bar of the terminal window at 03:22 shows COM9 at 115200."
Who is 'we' :-)
13 is CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446
20 is an external USB/Serial converter.
"We also noticed an oddity, at 03:18 you use putty to connect to COM13 with 19200, but the title bar of the terminal window at 03:22 shows COM9 at 115200."
Accepted. This is an oddity of the display of Putty. Ignore the "COM9 at 115200" as should have saved the settings.
"We used two PIC16F18446 XPRESS boards to conduct the test"
Do not do that! You need one reference point - tell the Business Unit to get an Xpress 185555 board - that board is stable.
"We have not been able to replicate the issue you show at 1:30, where you click in the left hand terminal (COM13), and then the right hand terminal (COM20) starts transmitting. Do you have any more details to share about your setup?"
Setup is Xpress board and the external USB/Serial device. Win7. Noting fancy.
"This is probably stating the obvious, but in both Br@y and CoolTerm you are supposed to press the "light bulbs" in the lower right hand corner to set the DTR signal."
The terminal needs to operate without DTR otherwise we are commencing a debug operation. So, no... I am not selecting DTR.
Summary: Some progress as they are now able to reproduce the issues but no fixed.
Anobium
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The recommended CONFIG setting is LVP = 1 and MCLRE = 1 in the PIC16F18446 on this new board. Note therefore the constrained use of Re3.
I have now, with the latest firmware, programmed the hex through the mass storage drive and verified that the application flash is written correctly. The board operates as expected when the application is programmed.
I have also completed the following test:
WRITE: 0A000E00 8F3F FE3F 9F3F FF3F FF3F 83
READ: 0A000E00 8F3F FE3F 9F3F FF1F FF3F A3
The hex writes the LVP bit to 0, as the nEDBG does not support high voltage programming and programming process flips the LVP to 1 before programming.
All this information is missing in the Xpress user guide. This has been logged as bugs and Microchip will update the documentation.
Anobium
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I mention logic levels and my presumtions
dir port x.x out
set portx.x on
port is 3.3V
logic levels
I searched microchip data and it don't say....and I asked here on the forum.
Is my other xpress board to?
Oh dear I assume too much.
16f18466 3v - 5v in data sheet means ??
are all pps chips 3.3V?
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This is not specific to the Xpress Board but to PIC Devices in general.
All F Series parts can operate from 2.5 to 5.5 Volts
All LF Series parts Can operate from 1.2 to 3.5 Volts
The above figures are the voltage difference between Vss and Vdd where Vss is the reference, usually 0 Volts or Ground.
The I/O voltage can then be considered in relation to the Supply Voltage.
The Input Voltage should not Exceed Vdd nor should it go lower than Vss.
Slightly over or under may be tolerated as the Port has Protection Diodes.
A series Resistor of ~100 Ohms is recommended to restrict current flow if there is a possibility of exceeding the limits.
Outputs are at, or slightly below, the level of Vdd.
So if you have a 16F part with a 5V supply then:
dir port x.x out
set portx.x on
You will Measure 5V with respect to ground.
If you are Measuring 3V3 then the device you are using has a Vdd supply Voltage of 3V3,
So the Operating Voltage and Supply Range have nothing to do with PPS just the Power supply to the device.
Cheers
Chris
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The 16f18446 data sheet says
4. These pins may be configured for I2C logic levels.PPS assignments to the other pins will operate, but input logic levels will be standard TTL/ST as selected by the INLVL register, instead of the I2C specific or SMBUS input buffer thresholds.
I thought ttl was 5V.
I didn't think to check pin high voltage. I suppose a led would have been dim with the normal series resistor I'd use for 5V.
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I did look but couldn't find it saying the logic levels are 3.3V or 5V anywhere.
My ssd1306 is 5V supply and logic so woud it work with 3.3V logic?
I have an ili9341 that is 3.3V logic and only works on 5V logic with a level shifter...it was sold as 5V cos it's got a 5V regulator. Anobiums ili9341 works on 5V logic it seems from old posts.
His ssd1306 works with cnano board.
What value pullups should I use for i2c at 400 baud 3.3V logic?
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I already have the formal response from Microchip. WOW....
I asked:
Response:
So, the shipping note has bogus information.
Fast repsonse. About 30 secs!
REV1 is printed on PCB. Ok, so no worry about this sentences
Original text on packing-list:
This just means that they will probably 'upgrade' the µPC on the newly delivered board to a higher specced version (like more ram/flash) if the original PIC is out of stock.
If u got it already - u keep that. Nowhere did they promise an upgrade-delivery.
PS: mine has Rev1 printed on backside
@Peter. Nope. There is no plan to upgrade the µPC. They are not planning on shipping an "Upgraded device" as he told me to ignore the shipping notice.
However, today. Microchip have told me that Product Development for this product will call me for a conf call tomorrow - more information after that conversation.
Howdy all!,
Got my Rev1 last week ... no problem on Windows 10, for Serial Port, or Virtual Drive...
R.
Last edit: Randall Young 2018-07-04
Installation of Windows 10 is ok - you can get one error shown previously, so, use the ZIP below.
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to the installation issue. Case #00309614
However, the download about does install. An error message is issued as shown below:
I have extracted the drivers for Windows 7 and Windows 8 and the two drivers, including the Virtual Serial Port now works. Download from here: https://github.com/Anobium/Great-Cow-BASIC-Demonstration-Sources/raw/master/Vendor%20Boards/MPLAB%20Xpress%20PIC16F18446/MPLAB%20Xpress%20PIC16F18446_HexFiles.zip
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-04
Regarding the URL for documentation. This is when you select the link in the virtual Mass storage device. Essentially, you are taken to incorrect page.
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to this issue. Case #00310395
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-04
Regarding the documentation being hard to locate and not complete.
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to this issue. Case #00310396
What a mess!!
No mention of the programmers guide or the debugger guide.
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-04
Regarding what is the initial program installed when shipped, and/or is a bootloader installed?
To quote MicroChip Product Development with respect to this issue. Case #00310394
Nice. So, the 16f18446 is essentially a standard part with a demo program.
But, why do we have to power cycle the board sometimes to make 'drag/drop' programming work? We have issues with Windows and Linux. We need to power cycle the board often.
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-04
News: Support Case 00310397: CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446 - Firmware ERROR!!!! This is where you transfer a program and the program gets corrupted! I have been provided a NEW firmware image for the nEDBG chip. It is intended that the fix should fix the flash programming issue
I need someone else to test. This means reflashing the new board and testing. Seems to work ok here!
00310396 - CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446 - Serial Communication
Progress
RB4 is connected to the nEDBG UART RX line, RB6 is connected to the nEDBG UART TX line. Any UART character sent to the nEDBG through RB4 is forwarded to the VCP.
Setting the DTR bit in a terminal emulator configured the I/O pins of the nEDBG for transmission. The TX line (connected to RB6) is set as an output in the nEDBG, and the input buffers on the RX line (connected to RB4) is enabled.
Virtual COM port application example: The behavior seen makes sense as the nEDBG sets it's TX line I/O as output when the DTR bit is set, causing a collision when the code sets RB4 as an output as well.
However, the using Terminal.exe on the VPC does not operate as expected - you have to toggle the Baud Rate. CoolTerm.exe does not work. Putty works. Go figure.
00310396 - CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446 -Documentation
Progress
The available documentation for the virtual COM port is listed in the evaluation kit user guide, section 4.2:
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/MPLAB-Xpress-PIC16F18446-Evaluation-Board.pdf
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/MPLAB_Xpress_PIC16F18446_Schematics.pdf (schematics reference)
It seems like a big pita. The original express board makes me happy, so I'll stick to that for now. What weirdness.... How do they expect a typical person to jump through hoops to get a board working. And as good as the xpress board works, how difficult can this be to do the same thing with a new dev. board? Anyhooooo....
Latest from Product Support on case #00310397
and
So, some progress as the second firmware I have does not corrupt the HEX file. But, nEDBG firmware is not correct with respect to serial transmission.
With respect to firmware I have. There is some confusion of the version of the firmware...seems that version numbering has got messed up. :-)
Anobium
It is nice to see that the merger of Microchip and ATMEL is going so
smoothly and that their respective engineers are capable of working
together on Hybrid solutions :)
/Sarcasm off
I spend 2-3 hours each morning going throught SDFC Support tickets, then testing, videoing and responding.
And, they wont not support PICKIT PLUS. Grhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
/Moan off
Latest on #00310396. The serial issues.
I am correct in thinking that the goal is that the terminal will work 'out of the box' in terms of transmission from the board. Tell them NOT to break it! :-)
Who is 'we' :-)
13 is CNANO Curiosity NANO USB - 16f18446
20 is an external USB/Serial converter.
Accepted. This is an oddity of the display of Putty. Ignore the "COM9 at 115200" as should have saved the settings.
Do not do that! You need one reference point - tell the Business Unit to get an Xpress 185555 board - that board is stable.
New video, see https://www.dropbox.com/s/y389q6ufzmrzx6v/FrankenXpressBoardSerialIssue002.avi?dl=0
Setup is Xpress board and the external USB/Serial device. Win7. Noting fancy.
The terminal needs to operate without DTR otherwise we are commencing a debug operation. So, no... I am not selecting DTR.
Summary: Some progress as they are now able to reproduce the issues but no fixed.
Anobium
Even more from Product Support on case #00310397
I wrote.
Product Support responsed.
Funny. The firmware in the ZIP is in decimal notation, and, the information on the virtual drive is on hex notation. Made me laugh,
Anobium
Last edit: Anobium 2018-07-11
Even more from Product Support on case #00310397
With respect to programming. Some insights.
The recommended CONFIG setting is LVP = 1 and MCLRE = 1 in the PIC16F18446 on this new board. Note therefore the constrained use of Re3.
I have now, with the latest firmware, programmed the hex through the mass storage drive and verified that the application flash is written correctly. The board operates as expected when the application is programmed.
I have also completed the following test:
WRITE: 0A000E00 8F3F FE3F 9F3F FF3F FF3F 83
READ: 0A000E00 8F3F FE3F 9F3F FF1F FF3F A3
The hex writes the LVP bit to 0, as the nEDBG does not support high voltage programming and programming process flips the LVP to 1 before programming.
All this information is missing in the Xpress user guide. This has been logged as bugs and Microchip will update the documentation.
Anobium
I mention logic levels and my presumtions
dir port x.x out
set portx.x on
port is 3.3V
logic levels
I searched microchip data and it don't say....and I asked here on the forum.
Is my other xpress board to?
Oh dear I assume too much.
16f18466 3v - 5v in data sheet means ??
are all pps chips 3.3V?
This is not specific to the Xpress Board but to PIC Devices in general.
All F Series parts can operate from 2.5 to 5.5 Volts
All LF Series parts Can operate from 1.2 to 3.5 Volts
The above figures are the voltage difference between Vss and Vdd where Vss is the reference, usually 0 Volts or Ground.
The I/O voltage can then be considered in relation to the Supply Voltage.
The Input Voltage should not Exceed Vdd nor should it go lower than Vss.
Slightly over or under may be tolerated as the Port has Protection Diodes.
A series Resistor of ~100 Ohms is recommended to restrict current flow if there is a possibility of exceeding the limits.
Outputs are at, or slightly below, the level of Vdd.
So if you have a 16F part with a 5V supply then:
dir port x.x out
set portx.x on
You will Measure 5V with respect to ground.
If you are Measuring 3V3 then the device you are using has a Vdd supply Voltage of 3V3,
So the Operating Voltage and Supply Range have nothing to do with PPS just the Power supply to the device.
Cheers
Chris
The 16f18446 data sheet says
4. These pins may be configured for I2C logic levels.PPS assignments to the other pins will operate, but input logic levels will be standard TTL/ST as selected by the INLVL register, instead of the I2C specific or SMBUS input buffer thresholds.
I thought ttl was 5V.
I didn't think to check pin high voltage. I suppose a led would have been dim with the normal series resistor I'd use for 5V.
Check out the basics first.
But, do try this. Should make no difference. Add this to the #11. I2C OLED demo
ODCB5=1 'Port specific controls may be required - see the datasheet
ODCB7=1 'Port specific controls may be required - see the datasheet
I did look but couldn't find it saying the logic levels are 3.3V or 5V anywhere.
My ssd1306 is 5V supply and logic so woud it work with 3.3V logic?
I have an ili9341 that is 3.3V logic and only works on 5V logic with a level shifter...it was sold as 5V cos it's got a 5V regulator. Anobiums ili9341 works on 5V logic it seems from old posts.
His ssd1306 works with cnano board.
What value pullups should I use for i2c at 400 baud 3.3V logic?