PE6 Source Code

RNovember

Well-known member
Hello.
Is there any way to download the source code for Picaxe Editor 6, and if so, in what ways are you allowed to use the source code?
(The reason I ask is that I wanted to know how instructions are encoded into signals to send to the picaxe chip, to see if I could mimic it with a picaxe 20x2. I was wanting to try to make a crude picaxe programmer, made with a picaxe!)
Thank you.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The source code is not available and the download protocol is considered proprietary information.
 

Buzby

Senior Member
You can easily decode the download protocol. Just use a serial sniffer and an Excel spreadsheet.

What is far more difficult is translating your PE6 code into the compiled data that is sent using the protcol.

In fact, having the source code to PE6 wouldn't help you anyway, as the clever stuff is done in the compiler.

You can call the compiler from a cmd line or a batchfile as it is a stand-alone unit. PE6 just automates the process.

There are ways to determine the compiler encoding, but is it worth it ?. PE6 and the compilers are free.


Rev-Ed make their money from selling PICAXE hardware, and their secret lies in the compilers on the PC and the interpreters in the chips.

Making PE6 ( but not the compilers ) open source would not harm Rev-Ed, and might lead to improvements that Rev-Ed are reluctant to implement, probably due to the negligble ROI.

Don't hold your breath though.

Cheers,

Buzby
 

lbenson

Senior Member
Making PE6 ( but not the compilers ) open source would not harm Rev-Ed, and might lead to improvements that Rev-Ed are reluctant to implement, probably due to the negligble ROI.
Improvements like to "Named Pipes" as asked about here 6 years ago:

Especially I2C and transmission of variable values (other than as through output pins).

www.picaxe.com/docs/PE6_Named_Pipe_Plugins.pdf
 

Buzby

Senior Member
Hi Lance,

Good grief !, Was it really 6 years ago I asked about named pipes ?.

Nowadays I realise that the development of named pipes is quite involved, at both ends, so I've not hankered for them any more.

What I would like now is very simple.

I would like to be able to re-direct the simulated serial output to (a) a text file, or (b) a 3rd party terminal prog (PuTTY, RealTerm, etc. ), or (c) a real serial port.

To provide any or all of these facilities would only take a few hours work. We were told one of the reasons for the demise of PE5 was the inability for Rev-Ed to add new features, and that these would be so much easier to add in PE6.

As it is, PE6 has languished at beta level since day one ( http://www.picaxe.com/docs/pe6.pdf ), and the vast majority of updates have just been bug fixes.

If Rev-Ed have not got the resources or inclination to provide new features then the 'curated open source' model would seem the ideal solution.

I'm still not holding my breath.

Cheers,

Buzby

Edit : I just remembered, I did ask for another feature ( or bug fix ) here : https://picaxeforum.co.uk/threads/feature-request-watch-break-on-condition-to-be-retentive-if-break-de-selected.30378/

I did not receive a reply, and it's still broken.
 
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lbenson

Senior Member
re-direct the simulated serial output to (a) a text file, or (b) a 3rd party terminal prog (PuTTY, RealTerm, etc. ), or (c) a real serial port.
That would indeed provide about everything I would like to see (other than on-chip simulation).
 

Buzby

Senior Member
... everything I would like to see (other than on-chip simulation).
Ten years ago ( yes, ten years ! ) I asked about the 'simulate / connect' feature.

Now it's not in PE6 at all, not even as beta.


Cheers,

Buzby
 

RNovember

Well-known member
There are ways to determine the compiler encoding, but is it worth it?
I don't know. I just was wondering whether it was possible to program a picaxe chip using another picaxe chip.

I don't nessesarily intend to try to tackle a problem like that, I just thought it was interesting.
 
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