Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #04690
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: "Ben Hitchcock" beh01@uow.edu.au
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 11:00:42 +0000
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Non-beam: a Mac AVR programmer
I'll answer all your questions in the one e-mail to cut down on the
annoyance level of the more traditional BEAMers:
>WOOO-HOOO!!! (:
>
>What port do you output the data on, and what type of
>programmer/adaptores do you use on the Mac?
I use the serial port. Either one. It even works on an iMac with a KeySpan
USB-Serial adapter! (Well, lots of Apple software doesn't work on it!)
There is a 68K version as well, which I have tested on ye olde Mac LC. I
had to make up an adapter to change the DIN-8 RS-485 that Macs use to the
common DB-9 RS-232 serial communications standard that PC's use. It's not
that hard once you know how. It's just a cable. Have a look at
http://wollongong.apana.org.au/~ben/macavrpa/macavrpa.html
for more info.
The programmer I use is one I built from a kit that I got from dontronics
(http://www.dontronics.com).
If you have a look a the webpage above, it
explains how to do it. I built mine for under A$100 Australian, and
whenever I want to use another chip, they just plug right in! (And cost
around A$20 for the supporting board, the chip, a socket, a crystal, two
caps).
> Hopefully this will be a trend... Mac users shouldn't be left out.
> Anyone know of Mac PIC programming software?
I got one from
ftp://ftp.srv.net/pub/users/kxc/MacPIC_PPC.sea.hqx
I haven't tried it out yet, you might want to do a search on MacPIC. It
looks pretty good, however. It supports several programmers, and actually
finds my serial ports (Not a foregone conclusion, believe me!)
>Rad! Do you think you could port the basic stamp programmer to =) That
>would like totally help me out. I have tried everything I can think of to
>get it to work.
Give me the source code, or have a look at the serial drivers in my program.
The program I used is licensed under the GNU public license - which means
the program and source code are FREE! I don't think the BASIC STAMP source
is free, though, mores the pity... If you wrote to them and told them that
you need the source because you have a Mac and want to port it over, I would
think that they would give you the serial parts at least, to modify and send
back so that they could release a mac version.
What I would try first is making up a proper RS-485 to RS-232 cable. The
ones you buy are probably wrong. (How do I know? Well, it's not guesswork,
let me tell you!) Then run Softwindows (you have that, right?) or RealPC
and try it out. I got another microprocessor board working under RealPC -
and it works perfectly. There is a debugger, you can step through the code
to see what's happening, and examine variables. And it works flawlessly on
my iMac!
There is also a version of AVRBASIC that has just been released for... you
guessed it: AVR chips. Unfortunately it's not under the GPL so I can't hack
a mac version into shape, but I think you could probably compile the
programs in that, and program them in my MacAVRpa...
Anyway,
good luck!
Ben Hitchcock
------------------------------------------------------------------------
eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/alt-beam
http://www.egroups.com
- Simplifying group communications
Home