On Fri, Aug 16, 2002 at 09:10:27PM +0100, Dominic Stratten wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Byron A Jeff" > To: > Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 8:43 PM > Subject: Re: [PIC]: The PICLIST Development Project: Executive Overview > > > > > > Zif Socket !!!! [Edited for brevity. ] > > OK Dominic, help me out. > > ... what's being inserted into the ZIF socket? > The reason for desperately wanting a Zif socket is that I have lots of Pics > here with bent pins (and a couple with paperclips soldered on to snapped > pins). I'm a bugger for reusing Pics but I see your point about using the > PKB more as a "tutorial" board. Not tutorial. Development/Experimenter. It'll just happen to be useful for tutorials too. I'm trying not to define its usage other than a tool for project development. If you want to develop onboard? Great. Use for tutorials? Wonderful. Use to program an offboard target? Excellent. I'll even but using it as a traditional PIC programmer, but I'd be the first to say that it's overkill for that purpose. Finally a tip for you. I always protect my PICs by inserting them into round pin machined solder sockets. They're tougher than PIC pins and cost less if bent or broken. I haven't had a bent or broken pin in a couple of years. > The only thing that would really worry me > would be rough handed "beginners" damaging the whole board by incorrectly > prising out the Pics if they want to change them or have buggered them up. It'll be an enclosed unit. There won't be anything to pry up. That's the whole point. Now there's be places that folks can plug in new and extra stuff (breadboard, expansion I/O connector, ICSP). But what's in the box is for the most part going to be permanently mounted. > People may want to develop/program/test on this board and maybe move the > programmed chip straight to a "finished project board". The Designer's PIC stays with it. Another chip would have to be used for the finished project board. Now what you're talking about is Geert's PICbase setup where the core circuitry can be moved. > While I was out > having a ciggie (and getting bitten severely by mozzies), I had a brainwave > regarding the Zif socket. There is a lot of talk about the complexities of > making the Zif universal (such as in the picstart plus) for programming but > how about this idea : > > Seperate daughterboard containing a Zif 40 pin socket but with 4 x RJ11 > connectors all wired to the seperate pins required for programming 8,18,28 > and 40 pin Pics. To program a 40 pin Pic, all the user has to do is to plug > the RJ11 cable into the 40 pin RJ11 socket etc. This would only provide the > appropriate signals to the proper pins on the Zif socket. RJ11 cables and > sockets are pennies in quantities. This could maybe be offered as a $10 add > on (guessing at numbers here). The user can always align pin 1 on Pic to pin > 1 on Zif and this would eliminate any blue smoke ;-) This is a really simple > idea but may be worth looking at. Yes it is. Personally I still like Olin's single socket, autodetecting setup better, but overall this idea has a lot of merit. > > Cheers > > Dominic > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics > (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics