ElectricRCAircraftGuy / eRCaGuy_MPLABX

My Microchip PIC32 and related projects, including those created in their MPLAB X IDE.

References

1. YouTube - Create Your First Project with PIC32MZ EF using MPLAB® Harmony v3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW-yS2FHI54
2. https://www.microchip.com/en-us/tools-resources/configure/mplab-harmony
   1. Creating a "Hello World" Application on SAM Microcontrollers Using MPLAB Harmony Configurator (MHC) - http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/Creating_Hello_World_%20Application_on_SAM_Using_MHC_DS90003231A.pdf
3. Some of my datasheets here: https://github.com/ElectricRCAircraftGuy/eRCaGuy_Engineering/tree/main/Datasheets/Microchip
   1. Starter kit: https://github.com/ElectricRCAircraftGuy/eRCaGuy_Engineering/tree/main/Datasheets/Microchip/PIC32MZ2048EFM144/embedded_starter_kit

Using this dev kit: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/dm320007-c, the eRCaGuy_MPLABX/harmony_projects/firmware/harmony_test1.X project works!

Harmony is no longer supported. See: https://forum.microchip.com/s/topic/a5C3l000000BoKjEAK/t390653

Solution:

1. Download this git repo manually: https://github.com/Microchip-MPLAB-Harmony/mhc

   Ex:

   mkdir -p ~/dev/Microchip-MPLAB-Harmony
   cd ~/dev/Microchip-MPLAB-Harmony
   git clone https://github.com/Microchip-MPLAB-Harmony/mhc.git

2. In MPLAB X IDE v6.15, go to Tools --> Options --> Plugins --> ensure that "Harmony Repository" is set to https://github.com/Microchip-MPLAB-Harmony, and that the "Harmony Content Path" is set to the path you just created above: ~/dev/Microchip-MPLAB-Harmony.

3. Then, open the code configurator: Tools --> Embedded --> "MPLAB Code Configurator v5: Open/Close"

4. Then follow the steps in the video above (more or less--they don't match quite right).

   Under pin settings, the UART pin should be pin 14: RG6: set it to U6TX.

   Connect a USB serial UART ("console cable") to the dev kit, and connect it to your computer. Refer to DS70005230B, the start kit User's Guide, Table 2-3 p20.

   • UART GND to dev kit GND (pin 6)
   • UART Rx to dev kit Tx (pin 8)

   Now, program the dev kit from MPLAB X IDE v6.15, and open a serial terminal to your USB serial UART. I use the legacy Arduino IDE 1.8.19 Serial Monitor for this.

   Here is the output!--with ~1 second delay between each line:

   0: Hello World!
   1: Hello World!
   2: Hello World!
   3: Hello World!
   4: Hello World!
   5: Hello World!
   6: Hello World!
   7: Hello World!
   8: Hello World!
   9: Hello World!
   10: Hello World!
   11: Hello World!
   12: Hello World!
   13: Hello World!
   14: Hello World!
   15: Hello World!
   16: Hello World!
   17: Hello World!
   18: Hello World!
   19: Hello World!
   20: Hello World!
   21: Hello World!
   22: Hello World!
   23: Hello World!
   24: Hello World!
   

TODO

Todo/next steps (not necessarily in this order):

1. Get the device to blink some LEDs at fixed intervals too.
2. Study and configure the clocks.
3. Obtain high-resolution timestamps via the core timer.
4. Study and configure some interrupts and ISRs.
5. Study and configure the timers/counters, and use them for:
   1. PWM
   2. Input capture
   3. Output compare
   4. driving servos
6. Study and configure some DMA.
7. Add C++.
8. Configure the build flags; ex: -std=gnu++20, -Wall -Wextra -Werror, etc.
9. Add FreeRTOS.
10. Add an interactive CLI over serial.
11. Improve the UART control to be more like Arduino, except do it better by overwriting the printf() function. All prints will be passed to a buffer, and a UART ISR will continually send what's in the buffer, just like in Arduino. If the buffer is full, printf() will block until the data is all printed, just like Arduino.
12. Add an interactive CLI over telnet over Ethernet.
13. Add a web server and have it host a web page.
14. Add Arduino-like libraries and functions.
15. Add a Makefile to build from the command line. See: https://github.com/brunoleppe/PIC32-Project-Template
16. Build it using a custom-compiled XC32 compiler. See: https://github.com/ElectricRCAircraftGuy/Microchip_XC32_Compiler