By popular demand – an enhanced PIC microcontroller programming development board.

This PIC-programming printed circuit board has been designed for use with the software for the new Windows-based Toolkit TK3, to be described in next month’s issue, and the DOS-based Toolkit V2.4, originally released in May/June ’99. The board has been introduced following readership suggestions about how the original Mk2 board could be beneficially extended to allow its greater use as a PIC design development facility.

Mk2 board was principally designed as a platform on which various PIC types could be programmed via the accompanying software. Whilst it provided limited access to the pins of an on-board PIC16x84 microcontroller, allowing it to be used in situ as the rudimentary heart of a developing hardware circuit, it did not offer direct access to all pins of the larger PIC16F87x family that could be programmed on it.

This new board design is intended to rectify this situation, allowing the four PIC sizes that it can accept to be hard-wired not only to additional on-board hardware, but also external components in conjunction with an optional plug-in breadboard. In this context, it is not only a programmer, but its options are also closely allied to the facilities available on the highly successful EPE PIC Tutorial board of Mar-May ’98. Direct connection of the programming lines can be made to external PIC-controlled circuits under development or final completion (such as published EPE PIC-based designs).