Programming the Amicus18

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Manx_Man
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Programming the Amicus18

Post by Manx_Man »

I have recently purchased flowcode v5, which is an excellent program and very easy to use.
I also purchased an Amicus18 board, which uses the PIC18f25K20 chip, so I would have something to program.
Can I compile and programme the Amicus18 board using flowcode. I have tried selecting the Amicus Loader through the compiler option menu but I get an error saying wrong type of hex file?
Can anyone help?
:(

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DavidA
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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by DavidA »

Hello,

I dont know of the specific programmer you are refering to, but if you want to make it so that Flowcode compiles to that programmer directly then you would need to ensure that the programmer had a command line programming tool, and then look in the documentation for that programmer for the command line parameters you would need to pass to enable it to program automatically. However this largely depends on the programmer used.

The other option is to just compile your Flowchart to a 'hex' file then load that hex into your programmer software and program your board.

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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by Manx_Man »

Hello Dave,
Many thanks for your reply.

Just a little information about the Proton Amicus18 is a multifunction development system inspired by the popular Arduino board, however, the Amicus18 board uses a Microchip PIC® microcontroller instead of an Atmel AVRtm type.

The board is made and developed by Proton how have written a special compiler for the Amicus18 development board.

But when I use this complier within Flowcode, under complier option, programmer, the loader comes up with a error, wrong HEX format.

When I compare the two Hex files, one from Flowcode and the other from Proton Amicus18 complier, the only difference is the first line of HEX, the Proton complier has:-
:020000040000FA

the first line of Hex. The rest of the Hex code matches.

One thing I should mention is that the Proton Amicus18 comes with a boot load within the PIC18F25K20, so you can programme it through a USB cable, so is this first line of HEX code got anything to do with this?

I noticed within Flowcode you have a a load of text within the parameters '-v -t PIC%p "%f.c"' what does this all mean?


thanks

dazz
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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by dazz »

Hi
I dont have an amicus but have read through the amicus docs, attached is a pic that will possibly work . if you set up a new entry in the programmer options save it as amicus and then compile to chip without anything attached it loads the amicus18loader and says it cant find an amicus so it appears it will work, i've also attached a rar file with the parameters in simply unzip the file to your desktop, open flowcode and in the programmer options select import and import the new file.
Let us know how you get on

Regards
Dazz
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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by DavidA »

Hi,

Well firstly please look at the fantastic pic dazz posted.

The '-v -t PIC%p "%f.c" parts are the command line parameters that are passed to the programmer, these parameters are specific to the PPP programmer which we use for E-blocks, other programmers use different command line parameters, hence why in the picture dazz posted the parameters are completely different.

If the ones that dazz posted dont work, i suggest you look up the documentation for the programmer you have and then look up the command line parameters you will need to pass to the programmer to allow programming of your specific chip.

As i mentioned we havent really seen this programmer before, we do offer guidance for getting E-blocks (our own programmer) and the PICKit2/PICKit3 working as these are by far the most popular programmers.

Flowcode will allow you to program with any programmer as long as it accepts command line parameters.

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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by Manx_Man »

Thanks Dazz and Dave,

I have tried your compiler parameters setting, but i get the message 'Wrong HEX file'.

But i have come up with a solution which works :-

1. Compile using Flowcode using default seting.
2. Compile to Hex using flowcode using defaults seting.
3. Open up the raw hex file using note book and insert the following picece of code into line one:-
:020000040000FA.
4. Press the Programme or compile to chip icon, then the program loads into the Amicus18 and the run ok...

A bit long winded method i know, but it works and i can use Flowcode, which is much easier than learning ASM.
:P
I hope this help other members.

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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by dazz »

Hi manx man

Can you add the following to the linker options (see attached pic), i think it might sort it out, been doing a bit of digging and that code you posted is for extended hex and adding the following to the boostc linker options (-hexela add it just before the last -p ) should add your line of code automatically ive tested by compiling several files to hex and it add the first line you typed

let us know if it works

Regards

Dazz
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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by Manx_Man »

Dazz,

It works....Many thanks.

Excellant

:P

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Re: Programming the Amicus18

Post by dazz »

Thanks for letting me know

Regards
Dazz
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