picaxe pinout compatibility

[tater1337]

just reading the manual and I got a question

If i build a prototype board and use a 20 pin socket, I should be able to use the following without changing any wiring for +V, 0V, serial in, serial out, right?

08m
14m
20m
20x2

whay the odball pinouts on the others? also, I know that the programs will have to change in regards to i/o.

 

[ylp88]

The pinouts are primarily dictated by the pinout for the base PICmicro upon which the PICAXE is based (so perhaps you should direct this question to Microchip instead! ).

As you point out, however, there are several chips where the pinouts work out quite conveniently.

ylp88

 

[westaust55]

To answer your question in two parts,

1. Yes you are correct and the stated PICAXE all have the same pinout for power supply and programming (serial in /Serial out) pins.

2. Revolution Education do not manufacture the actual PIC microcontroller chips. Their expertise is in the creation of the firmware with the BASIC interpreter that we all use to program the PICAXE chips (easily) in BASIC.

As such, Rev Ed are limited to selection of a Microchip PIC microcontroller from the available range that has the necessary internal functions to achieve the desired PICAXE in line with the rest of the PICAXE range.

The location of the power supply and external resonator pins is as such fixed in silicon by the PIC manufacturer.
the micrococntrollers also have a series of 8 bit ports (pins) so to the maximum extent Rev Ed work woithin these groups of 8 pins to establish groups of input pins and output pins. It makes the interpreter functionality easier and also easier for us users when using PEEK and POKE comamnds to achieve more complex actions.