It seems that the next big thing for MPLAB, Microchip’s IDE, is going to be a move to NetBeans. MPLAB is, mostly, a pretty good place to develop embedded software for the Microchip PIC processors. All the variants from the venerable 16F84 up to the latest 32-bitdevices are catered for. Editing, programming and debugging can all be done from one handy-dandy application. Of course, it has its limitations…
Once the main board is assembled, it can be tested without waiting for the sensor or motor driver boards to be ready. In time honoured fashion, we start with a little program to flash the LEDs.With any new microcontroller project, it is a good idea to start with some simple code that will allow you to test your ability to create a project in the chosen development environment, compile the program, transfer it to the microcontroller and run it. While you are at it, you get to test the simplest part of the system hardware. (more…)