Flowcode v1.0 packaged with my chip?!

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adamscybot
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Flowcode v1.0 packaged with my chip?!

Post by adamscybot »

I recently bought a PIC Microcontrollers Development board (v3). It came, as expected, packaged with the 'ELSAM' disk.

To my dissapointment, the flowcode software is v1.0 and it seems it can only support 16F84 as its target device. This is useless to me as the V3 of the development board comes with the better 16F88. So how am I supposed to use this?

I tried upgrading to v2, but you only offer an upgrade from 2 to 2.2. Can you not give me an email to contact you in which I can ask for the v2 file?

Adam

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Post by Ian »

Hi Adam,

The versions of Flowcode, ASM4PICs and C4PICs found on the ELSAM CD are Demo sampler programs to allow you to try out the products. They were limited to the 16F84 as that was the main introductory PIC chip at the time those demo versions were written.

The 2.0 to 2.2 upgrade is a 'patch/upgrade' for users of Flowcode Version 2.0.

Full versions of Flowcode and the other Matrix programming courses can got from the web site.

adamscybot
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Post by adamscybot »

But the only downloads I can find is on here:

http://matrixmultimedia.com/flowcode.php

So i cant use my PIC board without pucrhasing an upgrade?! Why would you package a piece of software which is completely unusable.

Adam

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Post by Ian »

adamscybot wrote:But the only downloads I can find is on here:

http://matrixmultimedia.com/flowcode.php

So i cant use my PIC board without pucrhasing an upgrade?! Why would you package a piece of software which is completely unusable.

Adam
It is not purcharsing an upgrade, it is purchasing the product.

The version of Flowcode is a Demonstration version. A free Lite version for people to use and evaluate Flowcode as a potential purchase.

It is limited to the 16F84 device, but is functional.
When we release Flowcode V3 we may update the demo andchange it to the 16F88. But even then it is still a trial version, not the full product.

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Steve
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Post by Steve »

Hello Adam,

You can use the PIC dev board with any PICmicro programming tools you have available - e.g. the free MPASM assembler from Microchip.

There are numerous other alternatives, such as 'C', Basic, even Pascal. Some of these are free, some you pay for. Most will offer some kind of limited trial version.

Our FlowCode trial version (the one on ELSAM) is, I admit, quite poor. It only allows you to see what the product looks like; it doesn't offer any useful functionality in its own right.

But FlowCode is a fantastic product, both for novice programmers and for rapid application development.

Version 3 will be released shortly, and we will produce a much more useful demo version. Although I'm not sure what the limitations will exactly be yet.

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Post by adamscybot »

Thankyou for clearing that up. If I was to purchase V2 now - in the future would the V2 to V3 upgrade be free or would I need to buy the product again?

Is the 'lite' version of the 'C' and 'Assembly' programs functional with my chip?

Adam
Last edited by adamscybot on Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Steve
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Post by Steve »

There will be a "grace" period where recent purchases of v2 will qualify for a free upgrade to v3. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure of the details here.

I will ask a colleague of mine to reply to this when he is back from holiday.

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Post by adamscybot »

Ok. I will await his reply.

Is the 'lite' version of the 'C' and 'Assembly' programs functional with my chip?

Adam

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Post by Ian »

C for PICmicros Lite and ASM for PICmicro Lite only contain a part of the full course. Sample chapters to give the feel for the full course and what it contains.

C for PICmicros is limited to the 16F84 device.

ASM for PICmicros does not include the VPIC simulator but can be used with other chips as it links directly to the MPLAB assembler.
You will need to check the options to ensure you have the right chip put in as it is set for the 16F84 by default.

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Post by adamscybot »

The VPIC software isnt really needed - am i right? only if you want to test your programs in detail.

The chip has to be changed under 'processor' in MPASM - correct?

Also, in the MPLAB IDE, can I open C, basic or assembly files that Ive created in...say....notepad and then flash them to the 16F88?

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Post by Steve »

The simulator we provide as part of ASM4PICs is a fantastic tool for learning what goes on within the chip suring the execution of your program. But you are correct, it is not necessary for experiences assembly users.

One thing to note about MPLAB - this comes with a free assembler (MPASM / MPASMWIN) but not with a free C compiler or BASIC compiler - you would need to buy something else if you wanted to work in C or BASIC.

Also an update on the v2 / v3 changeover for FlowCode. We are saying that anyone who buys v2 from us from this date onwards will automatically qualify for a v3 upgrade free of charge. I will shortly post a message about this in a separate thread.

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