New(?) PIC with USB

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Wrenow

Senior Member
I apologize if this has been covered and I have missed it, but I just came across an ad with Microchip touting integrated USB client and host capabilities built into some of the chips in its range.

Is this actually pretty new, or just new to me? Anyone know if they are released and/or stable?

Assuming they have been released and are stable and within spec, I was wondering if Rev-ed has toyed with the idea of any Picaxes with this on-chip capability. Or does the overhead on a Picaxe in any way preclude implementation of the on-chip USB?

(Yes, Dippy, as I have already noted, I am easily excited :) )

Cheers,

Wreno
 
D

Dippy

Moderator
Calm down wrenow, you'll do yourself a mischief.

Would be nice wouldn't it. Maybe they will, maybe they won't.
One things for sure, it's harder than waving a Magic Wand.
 
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Tom2000

Senior Member
Wrenow said:
I apologize if this has been covered and I have missed it, but I just came across an ad with Microchip touting integrated USB client and host capabilities built into some of the chips in its range.

Is this actually pretty new, or just new to me? Anyone know if they are released and/or stable?
Click to expand...
Yes, they've been out for a while. 18F2550/18F4550 (or maybe 18F2520/18F4520) pop to mind. They offer both USB client software for the chips and driver software for the PC to support the USB link.

I think DPG has played with one of these. He can provide you some hands-on info.

Tom
 
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westaust55

Moderator
June elektor magazine has article entitled

"Microchip: 32-bit PIC32 MCU family gets USB on-the-go"

And

a project using the USB based PIC18F2550 for a temperature monitor capable of / for network connection
 

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Mycroft2152

Senior Member
What is more interesting is that the cost of the FTM USB controller chips has dropped considerably.

Here's a 28 pin plug in board (not a PICAXE) with a USB chip. the total cost is under $10 US.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/...147b28.jpg?v=0

I wonder if it can be converted??

Myc
__________________
“When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?”
~George Carlin~ RIP 2008
 
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marcos.placona

Senior Member
Mycroft2152 said:
What is more interesting is that the cost of the FTM USB controller chips has dropped considerably.

Here's a 28 pin plug in board (not a PICAXE) with a USB chip. the total cost is under $10 US.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/...147b28.jpg?v=0

I wonder if it can be converted??

Myc
__________________
“When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?”
~George Carlin~ RIP 2008
Click to expand...

Your image link doesn't work mate!
 
hippy

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I mentioned it in passing; the nice thing is the USB Host capability.

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9592&page=2

I also mentioned PICAXE USB Slaves recently but cannot find the posts. I did some digging and it seems possible to use an 18F2550 etc in a way which could work with the PICAXE firmware. I've got some PICmicro code written to try USB Slave but haven't built the hardware yet.

Adding USB Slave should not be a lot more than supporting USBIN and USBOUT similar to SERRXD and SERTXD and calling the USB handler every 10mS or so. Most of that code is available in various forms. Adding USB Host capabilities could be a lot more complicated until some of the mainstream and simple to use PICmicro compilers support that - Always best to let someone else do the hard work first ;-)
 
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Tom2000

Senior Member
The board shown on Flickr is a processor board whose serial link is provided by an FTDI USB-TTL chip. The proc itself has no USB capability, as do the 18F2550/-4550 chips.

Not to say that it isn't a neat package, however. And those FTDI chips make it very easy to add USB capability to anything that supports a serial link.

By golly, I just noticed that the Picaxe supports a serial link. Hint... :)

Tom
 
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Mycroft2152

Senior Member
Tom2000 said:
The board shown on Flickr is a processor board whose serial link is provided by an FTDI USB-TTL chip. The proc itself has no USB capability, as do the 18F2550/-4550 chips.

Not to say that it isn't a neat package, however. And those FTDI chips make it very easy to add USB capability to anything that supports a serial link.

By golly, I just noticed that the Picaxe supports a serial link. Hint... :)

Tom
Click to expand...
Yup, the question is what are the differenes in pinouts between the PICAXE 28x1 and the other (unnamed) micro.

I just like the plug in boards.
 
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Tom2000

Senior Member
Mycroft2152 said:
Yup, the question is what are the differenes in pinouts between the PICAXE 28x1 and the other (unnamed) micro.

I just like the plug in boards.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, power, ground, and the serial link are on the wrong pins, so you couldn't stick a 28X1 in the socket.

I like the board, too, and its form factor. That's small enough to package the whole board -- processor, resonator, bypass caps, and USB interface -- into your project box. A quick and easy solution.

Tom
 
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Tom2000

Senior Member
Mycroft2152 said:
Tom,

How bout one with just a serial interface for the 08M, 14M and 20M?

Something i've been working on.
Click to expand...
Very nice!

Yep, that's just what I was thinking. A neat, integrated package that you could test on your breadboard. Once you got the software and external circuitry up and running, you could tuck the entire CPU board right into the box when you build your finished project.

I think you're on to something, Myc.

Good luck!

Tom
 
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MFB

Senior Member
Due which summer?

Forget about a USB ready PICAXE, I would just be happy to see the X2 version released!
 
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demonicpicaxeguy

Senior Member
yep i was excited when i saw the ad for them, was even more excited when i had one in the breadboard and actaully talking to my vb program,

if you look around there is project people have done that emulate their own mice,keyboards,accellerometer based joysticks... etc

i just use them for my dataloggers
 
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MPep

Senior Member
X2 capability perhaps??

Hi people,

I have often thought that USB would be a nice way to go. :)

Wondering out loud here but would the 28X2 and 40X2 incorporate USB??? There's a nice thought.

I guess the difficulty would be the driver software on the PC. But if it was kept as a USB-RS232 converter type protocol, all should be well.

Mark.
 
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westaust55

Moderator
PICAXE X2 variants

From Manual 1 page 10 hardware is already defined as:

• PICAXE-28X2 PIC18F2420

• PICAXE-40X2 PIC18F4420

These do not have USB embedded within the PICAXE from a search of the Microchip website
 
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