Unable to watch ASM30 symbols in MPLAB IDE 7.62

MPLAB IDE Version - v7.62 Interim Release
Tools affected - ASM30 (16-bit assembly code)

We have recently identified a problem with MPLAB IDE 7.62 that can prevent the watch window from showing ASM30 file-scope symbols. These assembly-code symbols will not appear in the watch window's symbol drop-down list, and the watch window will display "Symbol not found" for manually entered symbols.

A user experiencing this problem can download and install a corrected MPProgram.dll by following the instructions below.

1. Close MPLAB IDE.
2. Navigate to your [C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPLAB IDE\Core] or the corresponding folder on your system.
3. Rename the existing MPProgram.dll to MPProgram762.dll.
4. Rename the existing MPProgram.sig to MPProgram762.sig.
5. Extract the new MPProgram.dll and MPProgram.sig to your
   [C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPLAB IDE\Core] folder.
6. Restart MPLAB IDE.
   

Install this patch if and only if you are experiencing this problem with MPLAB IDE 7.62.

MPLAB822fix.zip

Windows Live SkyDrive (Beta)

The Windows Live SkyDrive (Beta) opened last week. Microsoft's new service gives you 500 MB of storage that you can access anytime from any PC or Mac connected to "the cloud". The service could come in handy if you travel a lot or want to share files with others. Visit their team blog for more details.

[Via Major Nelson]

REAL ICE Skydiving photos from WW MASTERS 07

On the first night of the Worldwide MASTERs Conference in Phoenix, a couple of us from the Development Systems team set up a small photo booth. At the booth, guests could stick their heads in a flimsy piece of cardboard showing a skydiver holding a REAL ICE. Who would have thought that so many people would want to put their face on our REAL ICE firmware developer's body?!?

My ugly mug is up and to the right. I also uploaded the photos to Flickr for those of you who aren't satisfied with the prints that we provided at the conference.


Video: Skydiving with the REAL ICE
Yes, he IS crazy.

Preview of MPLAB IDE's Editor Autocomplete feature

Here's a short video that I played at the Worldwide MASTERs 07 "Ask The Experts" booth during the day (when the booth was closed). It shows the upcoming autocomplete feature in action.

First day of MASTERs in the bag, two more to go!

Well, we just finished our first day of Microchip's annual MASTERs Conference, and it went very well as far as I could tell. I attended a touchscreen LCD GUI class in the morning, worked at the Development Tools store in the afternoon, and acted as a compiler "expert" at the Ask The Experts booth in the evening. I even participate in the entertainment activities at night. It was a long day, but I met a bunch of interesting people and learned a little about what some of the applications engineering groups are doing.

I'm a little nervous about tomorrow morning because it will be my first time presenting a class at MASTERs. Even though I'm only responsible for about 40 minutes of a 4-hour MPLAB C18 class, I still don't want to put everybody to sleep! It's been about a month since we had our dry runs and submitted our slides to the conference organizers, so I need to take some time tonight to review my slides and interactive demo.

If anybody reading this is currently in Phoenix for MASTERs, be sure to stop by the Ask The Experts booth Thursday or Friday evening from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. You'll be able to talk to members from our MPLAB IDE software team, our compiler team, our hardware/firmware team, and our tool test team. We've already received a good number of suggestions and constructive criticism on our tools, but we'd definitely like to get more. In addition to meeting directly with the Development Systems team, you'll also get some face time with applications developers representing all of Microchip's major product lines including microcontrollers. analog and interface products, and serial EEPROMs. Don't miss this opportunity to get direct contacts on the teams that interest you!

That's all for now. I need to review my class material...