On 22/06/2012 20:39, Mauricio Giovagnini wrote:
>
>> Also, I've seen a number of posts that indicate that the Pickit3 is
>> problematic, compared to the Pickit2, but those posts are a year old.
>> Is this still the case?
>
> The most important missing thing when pickit 3 was released was the stand=
alone programming application that has the pickit 2.
>
> But I read and watched several videos talking about the release of the st=
andalone application for pickit3 but I can't get any useful link to the app=
..
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D3EkNUa2nSDE
>
> http://www.microchip.com/forums/m554515.aspx

It exists and can be found with a bit of googling, but I have found it=20
fairly useless.

>> Most importantly though, I've read that each time the Pickit3 switches
>> processor families, it needs to download new firmware.  Not sure where
>> it's downloading from, but I'm assuming it means download off the
>> internet... ?  If so, what if I'm not connected to the internet?  Will
>> it get it off my local PC, or will it just not be able to continue worki=
ng?
>
> It is true that new firmwares can be downloaded to the programmer when ch=
aning device families but
> you don't need to be connected to the internet all the time.  The firmwar=
es are picked up from your MPLAB directory (v8.8x or IDE X)

This is the only part of the PK3 which for me is still buggy.  I develop=20
code in a VMware machine so I can port around my development setup. =20
When changing device families in MPLABX (most often 18F to 12F) I have=20
bricked the PK3 three times.  This necessitates opening it up and=20
reprogramming using my PK2.  The fix is to do the firmware download from=20
MPLAB8 on the host, this works flawlessly.

Aside from this my general comments are that the PK3 is much nicer and=20
faster than the PK2.  It supports a wider range of devices.

David
--=20
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