PE 6.0.6.2. Beta and PE 5.5.5 Question

[Hydroid]

Hi,

This question is for the Technical staff, but I'm open to any advice / suggestions:

I have a laptop running Windows 8.1 and up until yesterday, I only had PE 5.5.5 loaded.

Wanting to try the new PE6 Beta, I downloaded and installed it - without remembering to remove the 5.5.5. version..... Yes, I know, probably not a smart move on my part...

Can I have a PE6 and a PE5 version installed at the same time? Is this acceptable? Will they get along with each other?

The reason I ask is that I was playing around with the 6.0.6.2. BETA and a 28X1 chip (Firmware v A.6), on the AXE091 Development board, and had this code loaded:

#picaxe 28x1

dirsc = %00001000

main:

pinsc = %00001000

wait 1

pinsc = %00000000

wait 1

goto main

The only thing on the development board, aside from the 28X1 chip, is a jumper wire from the 28X1's pin 14 (C.3) to the L1 pin (Green LED).

I uploaded the code and received a successful upload confirmation, and expected the green LED to blink on for a second then off for a second per the code, but nothing happened - The LED remained off.

After about 30 minutes of getting nowhere, I shutdown PE6 Beta and started up PE5 and loaded the identical code. After a successful upload message, the LED began blinking as expected.

I tried this at least three times and each time the same result: Always got an OK message after the upload, but the LED only blinks when the code is uploaded with V5.5.5.

To see if the issue was isolated to Port C, I moved the jumper wire from pin 14 (C.3) to pin 24 (B.3) and changed the code to:

#picaxe 28x1

main:

pins = %00001000

wait 1

pins = %00000000

wait 1

goto main

Loading that code with either V5 or V6 results in the LED blinking as expected, so it seems to be a Port C issue somehow...

I was going to remove both PE versions and start from scratch - only loading the PE6 BETA version, but I thought I'd ask here before doing anything further.

The other thing I noticed, is in the "Programs and Features" list for Win 8.1., there is only one entry for "PICAXE PROGRAM EDITOR" with yesterday's date. So, I'm assuming here that if I uninstall that, it will uninstall V6, but not the V5,

Any thoughts as to why the code doesn't work with PE6?

And lastly, if I do indeed have to remove both and start over, how can I ensure that all traces of V5 are gone? Is just deleting the directories sufficient?

Thanks for your time and effort,

Regards, John.

 

[Technical]

You can run v5 and v6 side by side and it should make no difference to programming. The compiler is a slightly later version in v6 and so we need to see why it no longer likes your pinsC statement (the 28X1 pre-dates 'real' port.pin notation as now used on X2 and M2 chips, so its compiler is a bit unique with regards to portc interaction).

You should have two entries in your Programs and Features

- Programming Editor
- PICAXE Editor

The first is v5, the latter is v6

 

[Hydroid]

You can run v5 and v6 side by side and it should make no difference to programming. The compiler is a slightly later version in v6 and so we need to see why it no longer likes your pinsC statement

Thanks for the prompt reply, I'll just leave both of them installed and use V5 for the older chip for now....

You should have two entries in your Programs and Features

- Programming Editor
- PICAXE Editor

The first is v5, the latter is v6

Right you are. I was so fixated on looking for PICAXE Editor, that I didn't see "Programming Editor" hiding just a few lines further down.

Good to know, Thanks! - And Kudos on producing quality software with great features and a great forum to discuss ideas / issues!

Regards, John.