Futurlec training board

[Hooter]

Folks - Futurlec sell a PIC training board which comes with a socketed PIC18F448.
This chip appears to have the same pinout configuration as the Picaxe40X1 - PIC16F887.
Is there any reason these can't be transposed - are the internals that different that it can't be done.
Any help is appreciated.
Hooter

 

[manuka]

Links? Costs? You'll of course need to be able to fit the usual PICAXE 10k/22k programming resistors. Stan

 

[mega]

How about this one then

http://www.futurlec.com.au/PIC16F877_Controller.jsp

I'd reckon that it would do just fine, might need to alter the crystal, check the serial connection, looks like it uses a max232 or something...... price is good (for us Aussies)

I am using one of their LPC2103 Controller boards at the moment.... steep learning curve in C++ but doing ok....

I like the way that the IO has headers, makes it easy to use their test led boards, input buttons, LCD, etc..... but you should have a look around at their mini boards.

When you buy their boards, you get the schematics, could be a goer.

 

[manuka]

Well the PICAXE40X1 is of course based upon a PIC16F887, but have you forgotten all the singing & dancing 40X2 excitement due to envelope us in just a week or so? Hippy is apparently already catching up on his sleep in anticipation. It's hence like rearranging the beer fridge to hold a few cool ales, when a crate of champagne is about to be delivered.

We've all waited for -ahem- quite some time for this 18F4420 based darling, & I for one will be shelving the 40X1 if prices are favourable. No doubt Rev. Ed is about to spill the beans-hint-hint on 28/40X2 costings. Farnell sell the 40X2's raw PIC18F4420 for just £3.93 + VAT & the 28X2 PIC18F2420 at £3.58 (each hence ~US$5 in total), meaning the raw hardware itself should be trivial. Of course Rev.Ed's immense development (+ Hippy's recent 24/7 ) input will mean the heady R&D costs initially need to be factored in, but I'd say we'll all be very tempted. In$ight$ anyone? Stan

 

[hippy]

In terms of fitting a PICAXE into any board designed for a PICmicro it's really about I/O usage and voltage compatibility than any internal chip functional differences.

If the board is configured so it puts an input into a specific PICAXE leg and that leg is output only on a PICAXE, or it expects a necessary signal line to be driven by something which is input only on a PICAXE, you probably will run into problems.

If a board relies on internal pull-ups being enabled on the PICmicro and the PICAXE doesn't provide for such internal pull-ups then buttons will not work without modification and so forth. If a 'receive line' needs to go into a schmitt input and the PICAXE's leg it goes to is a TTL input there could be problems.

There are far to many if's for Rev-Ed to say if a PICAXE is compatible with any particular third-party development board or not. As probably expected, our recommendation would be to use Rev-Ed boards which are designed to be compatible. My personal thoughts are that, if trying to save money, you have to weigh up the cost of all that effort making sure it will work and modifying any board before even plugging a PICAXE chip in.

As to pricing for the future 28X2 and 40X2, I have no knowledge there but I would not expect them to be unreasonable priced.

 

[Hooter]

Thanks for the responses.
Megareg - I was also considering the board you mentioned as I already have most of their mini boards. Sure makes playing easy.
I will have to look deeper in to both boards to consider Hippy's concerns.
Thanks.