20091102

How to program Microchip PIC microcontrollers

This is something I learned to do fairly recently (6 months ago) on my Mac, after looking for the correct tools for a long time (like a whole year before that). Granted, I have been able to program PICs with my PC for 2 years through the "official" methods, and with a little help from the existing virtualization options.

But today I want to describe how to do it in the Macintosh, 100% no emulation, no virtualization.

First, you will need is a Pickit-1 like mine. They are dirt cheap these days, like $36 direct from Microchip.

After ordering the Pickit, you can get free samples from the company's website. Be sure to check the PIC compatibity within the Pickit-1. I ordered a bunch of 16F675 because they are the only supported PICs with hardware UARTs in them.

Second, obtain a copy of Microchip OSX Pickit tool. It comes with no official support, but it is open source. Get a copy here: Intel, PPC. Use the OSX tool to test that you can download the .HEX files included in the CDROM.


Congratulations. Now you can program PIC microcontrollers!

Of course, you will need a compiled/assembled HEX file to flash your PIC now. There are many, many ways of achieving this, and the ways are more numerous with VPC/Parallels/Bootcamp, but I am working on another blog post that will describe how to code the PIC within OS X.