Most powerful pic that PCWHD support..

ELCouz · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 427 Location: Montreal,Quebec

I'm curious to know what's the most powerful PIC24 or dsPIC that CCS compiler support. (Calculation wise,mips)

Now that I know that PIC32 are out of question.

Just want to see what they have to offer (microchip) before I need to jump the ARM bandwagon.

Thanks!
_________________
Regards,
Laurent

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Here's my first visual theme for the CCS C Compiler. Enjoy!

PCM programmer · Joined: 06 Sep 2003 Posts: 21708

Use the Microchip Parts Selector to set the minimum MIPs (the left-hand
in the Max MIPs section).
Un-select the box for Pic32, since CCS doesn't support it.
http://www.microchip.com/maps/microcontroller.aspx
I get 107 chips at 70 MIPs. They are all PIC24EP or dsPIC33EP.

Then look at the CCS Devices Supported page to see if they support it.
https://www.ccsinfo.com/devices.php?page=devices

newguy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 1911

I've used the dsPIC33FJ256GP710A in 3 different designs now. At 80MHz, it gives 40MIPS. The most time sensitive/computationally intensive project is a communication bridge that supports 2 independent CAN channels @ 250kbps each and two independent serial links running at 500kBAUD. No issues at all with data throughput. I love the DMA on this processor as it handles pretty much all of the communication links on its own. Only issue was setting up DMA in the first place as that was a bit of a learning experience.

With an extra 30MIPS....I know I'd put them to use but I don't know on what.

I do have to say that I did find the limits of the PCD compiler when I was writing those 3 projects. I used version 4.141 of the compiler. I haven't used version 5 at all so I can't comment as to whether they've fixed some of the bugs, but 4.141 didn't handle CAN worth a damn on the dsPICs. I had to write all the CAN routines myself by directly reading/writing the low level registers because the built-in functions didn't work at all. At the time I did report this all to CCS but I don't know if they fixed it since. It was just a real leap given my previous experience with v4.099 and CAN on the PIC18F's. All the CCS drivers worked fine with no modifications for those processors.

ELCouz · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 427 Location: Montreal,Quebec

Thanks guys! Smile

Another question:

I have some experience with the PIC18 series for awhile but only tried the PIC24 and dsPIC once when the compiler was around 4.060.

It was abysmal and hard since most of the libraries where broken at the time (like you said newguy)

As I can see both offer good performance (dsPIC/PIC24) which series do you recommend to learn?

I mean, will the PIC24 short lived like PIC17?
I don't wan't spend some time learning (Hobby wise) for an almost end of life product.

Which series between the two is easier to work with? (I won't do DSP calculations)
_________________
Regards,
Laurent

-----------
Here's my first visual theme for the CCS C Compiler. Enjoy!

newguy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 1911

I don't have any experience with the PIC24 family. I didn't find the dsPIC architecture hard to learn but there are some things to look out for.

I bought the CCS Analog Dev kit and I found out pretty quickly that it has a hardware fault on the board. Kind of. The sample code would sometimes run, sometimes not. The crystal on the board is 12MHz and the processor would sometimes run, sometimes not. After some digging I found in the datasheet for that family that the oscillator isn't guaranteed to start with a crystal of that value. I had to come up with code to manually start via the internal oscillator, then switch over to the external crystal because the CCS supplied #use delay() wasn't working properly to do the switchover. The supplied examples didn't do any switchover - they defaulted to the external crystal and that's why they sometimes wouldn't work.

I've found that CCS support for basic things like A/D, UART, etc works. CAN didn't as of 4.141, can't speak about more recent versions. DMA I didn't even bother using the built-in functions for, I instead cut my own using direct manipulation of the relevant registers. Microchip has some pretty good documentation on the subject.

Pay particular attention to the errata for whatever chip/family you choose. I did find an undocumented errata for the dsPIC33FJ256GP710A and I did notify Microchip about it. That said, their list of errata is very comprehensive.

temtronic · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 10:57 am

re:...what's the most powerful PIC24 or dsPIC......

kinda depends on what's important or necessary for your project.
Some may need a lot of I/O, someone might want tons of memory.
Others need drop in replacement feature..

And of course Microchip will come out with a 'more powerful' PIC 3 days after your PCBs come back from the shop !!

jay

VernonAMiller · Joined: 11 Sep 2014 Posts: 25 Location: Contoocook, NH

As others have already said, it's tough for me to think of PIC32 as a PIC at all. If I ever need to move to something 32-bit, I will look at the ARM chips first. They are just a lot more widely supported.

Having said that, if you do decide to go the PIC32 route, MikroElektronika does make a PIC32 compiler that is reasonably priced. I have not used it, but I did use their PIC compiler (on PIC18 platforms) and it was OK - not as good or easy as the CCS compiler (which is why I'm here) but competent.

(No flame wars please! Just trying to point out options.)

VAM

ELCouz · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 427 Location: Montreal,Quebec

thanks again for the discussion guys! Smile

The closest PIC I could find to be the most powerful and backward compatible with my experience is the dsPIC30F6015.

30 MIPS (not the fastest but its an improvement from 18F4550 12 MIPS) but the most important for me is 5v operation and huge 25ma sink/source per pin!!!

I could live with 3.3v operation pic24/dspic33 but 4-5 ma per pin average won't cut it even for a led!
_________________
Regards,
Laurent

-----------
Here's my first visual theme for the CCS C Compiler. Enjoy!

temtronic · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:54 pm

I've been using the 18F46K22 for quite awhile. It's my 'goto' PIC. LOTS of mem,I /O, peripherals like two UARTS, etc. 64 Mhz= 16mips I think ?
It's plenty fast for me....
Might be worth a look at ??

Jay

jeremiah · Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Posts: 1358

ELCouz · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 427 Location: Montreal,Quebec

jeremiah · Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Posts: 1358

Check out the PIC24FJ (General Purpose) and PIC24EP (same as dsPIC33 family)series. The HJ are special function chips usually.

For General Purpose I use the PIC24FJ64GA004. For low power I use the PIC24FJ64GA104. Both are 18mA sink (25mA absolute max)

VernonAMiller · Joined: 11 Sep 2014 Posts: 25 Location: Contoocook, NH

Ttelmah · Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Posts: 19587

newguy · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 1911

Really, when it comes to questions regarding what's the best or most powerful processor, it all comes down to another question: what's your application?

One of my professors suckered our entire class back when I was in undergrad with that question. At the time the 386 (running at 20MHz mind you) was about the best you could get. I think someone even said "whatever is in a Cray" too. Then he said "My application is a microwave oven. Or what if the application is a remote control?" As soon as he said that, we all realized what a folly it would be to put a very expensive, very power hungry processor into a battery powered device.