Compiling the Firmware

Tools

To compile the firmware you will need MPLAB-X and either C32 or XC32 from Microchip. Both can be downloaded free of charge, and are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

The MPLAB-X homepage is at: [http://www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/family/mplabx/]

The firmware is in the form of an MPLAB-X project, so you can just open it in MPLAB-X and select the "Build" from the toolbar.

Installing

Once the firmware is build, you need to "burn" it to the chip. This can either be done directly via the ICSP Header using a hardware PIC programming tool, such as a PicKit3, or via the USB bootloader firmware on the chip.

To activate the bootloader hold down the "PROG" button while pressing the RESET button. The display should flash "PP".

To use the USB bootloader you will require a "Microchip HID Bootloader" compatible programming tool. There are numerous available for all platforms. Tools we recommend are:

• pic32prog by Serge Vakulenko.
• mphidflash based on ubw32 by Phillip Burgess.

Either tool will require the "HEX" file of the firmware image. This is contained in the "dist/default/production" folder within the project and is named "PulseRifle.X.production.hex".

Under Windows, one of the following commands should work, depending on which tool you have installed:

C:\Projects\PulseRifle.X\> pic32prog dist\default\production\PulseRifle.X.production.hex

or

C:\Projects\PulseRifle.X\> mphidflash -w dist\default\production\PulseRifle.X.production.hex

In Linux and OS X it is pretty much the same but replace the \ in path names with /

For more information see the manual for the tool you have installed.