Sunday, April 26, 2009

    Microchip introduces nanoWatt XLP Technology

    As more electronic applications require low power or battery power, energy conservation becomes paramount. Today’s applications must consume little power, and in extreme cases, last for up to 15-20 years, while running from a single battery. To enable applications like these, Microchip has introduced nanoWatt XLP™ Technology. Products with nanoWatt XLP Technology offer the industry’s lowest currents for Sleep, where extreme low power applications spend 90%-99% of their time.

    Monday, April 20, 2009

    Xiaofan's Blog: PICkit 2 under Arch Linux with pk2cmd

    Xiaofan Chen explains how to run PICkit 2 under Arch Linux with pk2cmd in a blog posting. Check out the instructions over on Xiaofan's blog.

    Thursday, April 09, 2009

    Save PIC32 code (and maybe data) space by providing exit() in MPLAB C32

    The default exit() function, provided with the MPLAB C Compiler for PIC32 MCUs and called by the default startup code, does a lot of clean up that your application might not require. It does things like flushing I/O buffers. This could be completely unnecessary if your application never exits from your main function().

    You might want to consider providing your own exit() function to override the default implementation. This can save both code space and data space.

    If you're not using standard I/O, this stub implementation can save about 1 KB of code space and even some data space. Just add it to your project.
    void exit(int status)
    {
    while(1);
    }
    Even if you are using standard I/O, this stub could still save you a little space.

    Tuesday, April 07, 2009

    Testing the PIC32 I/O Speed

    Over on the Microchip web forums, it's not uncommon for someone to ask about how to achieve the PIC32's maximum I/O speed. The question seems to come up every few weeks. Lucio Di Jasio has a great blog post and example MPLAB IDE project showing how to get the most out of your PIC32 I/O. Theoretically, the peripherals can operate at the same top speed as the PIC32 core, 80 MHz. Lucio shows you how to get as close to the theoretical maximum as possible.

    Saturday, April 04, 2009

    PIC32 Design Challenge Top 5 from the ESC Keynote

    Here's the video from the 2009 ESC West Keynote. It shows the top 5 designs in the PIC32 Design Challenge. See more at http://www.mypic32.com