On Tue, May 27, 2003 at 09:28:17AM +0200, faisal moro wrote:

Faisal,

Let me give you some advise. As you have pointed out, you are the newbie here.
While Olin is cranky and curt, he is right.

As I pointed out in my other post, your problem is your choice of software.
FlashBasic is designed to be a VB type interface to embedded programming. The
problem is that it's rarely very good when your embedded programming software
shields you from the hardware that you are trying to program. It has taken
you less than 24 hours to run into your first issue. And I can promise you
that you will run into more simply because the software that you are using
will have incompatible goals to the problem that you are trying solve.

Since Olin probably won't say anything else here (and rightly so by my count)
let me advise you on what you should do. Ditch FlashBasic and start over with
the following:

1) Get an 18F part. Preferably a 18F452. In a year or so it'll be the dominant
   family on this list. Microchip now samples their entire product line. Takes
   a bit of time to get up to speed on it, but that time is well worth it.

2) Get the data sheet, 18C reference manual, and the latest errata sheet for
   the part in question. PRINT IT AND READ IT. READ IT ALL!!! Simply put you
   cannot program effectively at this level without an intimate understanding
   of the tools available. So you have to read in the order listed above.

3) Write in assembly. I say again WRITE IN ASSEMBLY! Same reason as above: it
   forces you to program everything by hand thereby giving you a deep
   understanding of how everything works. Afterwords you can then make
   intelligent decisions about other languages.

4) Search the archives. I have a post from a year ago discussing this very
   subject. Find it here: http://tinyurl.com/cqza
   Google is your friend.

5) Don't bite the hand that is trying to help. Though I am spelling out to you
   what to do, it's exactly the same thing Olin was trying to tell you.

Otherwise you're going to get frustrated not because you are a newbie, but
because you haven't taken the time to get acquainted with all of the vast
PIC resources that are available to you before asking a set of questions that
are in fact RTFM.

> > > maybe it's a stupid qustion, but here it is: can i set the USART
> >> baudrate of a 17F877
> >
> >There is no such thing as a 17F877.
>
> typo error, already cleared (ReadTheFuckingAnswers)
>
> > > to 31.250K with at PIC running @ 20MHz? Or
> >> should i use a 16MHz xtal instead?
> >
> >RTFM!  The formula is clearly spelled out.
>
> sorry dude (i still don't see a signature), i'm just an "embedded
> system newbie"
>
> i still can read the manual and don't understand how things work

But you didn't read the manual. Or more precisely the right manual (i.e. the
datasheet or the Reference Manual). That's the problem.

> i thought, that's why mailing lists exist right? so maybe an expert
> programmer can address me in the right direction.

I feel like I just did.

BTW you picked the wrong list. Yours is a FB question, not a PIC one.

>
> if you don't like hobbysts that start learning using a hi-level
> language its your prob.

No. Actually it's your problem. Your language choice is hindering you from
accomplishing the task you are trying to achive. Also your language choice
separates you from the vast majority of the readers of this list. As a Linux
user (which BTW Olin also has a distaste for ;-) I understand using tools not
from the mainstream. I also understand that any issues that arise from that
choice are my issues, not anyone elses. Finally it's even more important to
understand the tools involved because there is a much smaller pool of folks
who understand how to use it.

But that's the reason you need to read, read, and read. Simply by reading the
USART chapter, you would have know two things instantly: that the 16F877 has
no problem generating 31250 BPS @ 20 MHz, and that FlashBasic falls down on
the job by not giving you a way to specify that bit rate.

The funny thing is that if you contact the FB authors, they'll probably send
you the exact same spot of assembly that the midrange manual has to configure
the port.

And that's why you need to start in assembly. It's the lingua franca of all
programming PIC, no matter what language you ultimately choose to use.

>
> if you have free time to spend writing useless answers, it's your prob too.

Actually it was a very useful answer. It's quite amusing to see that you don't
see that.

>
> if you think that this would help a newbie in learning some "serious"
> programming language, well i think that authors of FlashBasic would
> thank you a lot.

Well I hope that my expanded post will give you some further insight.

And by the way, the authors of FB are your problem here. Not Olin.

BAJ

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