picchick

A utility to aid in programming PIC microcontrollers

picchick

A utility to aid in programming PIC microcontrollers

Overview

piccchick is a commandline utility written in python that attempts to implement Microchip’s ICSP Low-Voltage with just a simple AVR device.

The function is the same as avrdude, i.e. to provide a way to flash a compiled .hex file onto a microcontroller. The typical development stack involving picchick looks like:

Development (nano) > Compiling (xc8-cc) > Flashing (picchick)

Installation

Requirements

  • xc8 compiler installed to one of: > (linux) /opt/microchip/xc8/
    > (Windows) c:\Program Files (x86)\Microchip\xc8\ *Windows not currently Supported

  • python >= 3.10

    • pyserial

  • Arduino flashed with programmer firmware

From PyPi

picchick can be installed using pip:

pip install picchick
<...>
picchick -h

From Source

picchick can also be run as a python module:

cd software/
python -m picchick -h

A wrapper script is also provided:

cd software/
./picchick.sh -h

Usage

Flashing

The typical command to erase then flash a hexfile onto a device looks like:

picchick -p <port> -d <chipID> --erase -f <hexfile>
picchick -p /dev/ttyACM0 -d 16lf19196 --erase -f blink.hex

$> picchick -h

usage: picchick [options] [hexfile]

A utility for programming PIC microcontrollers

positional arguments:
  hexfile               path to the hexfile

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -f, --flash           flash hexfile onto the device
  --read addr           read specified address or chunk of memory
  --write addr word     write word to specified address
  --erase [addr]        erase device or specified address
  -d chipID, --device chipID
                        device to be programmed
  -p port, --port port  programmer serial port
  --baud baud           serial connection baudrate
  --map                 display the hexfile
  --list-ports          list available serial ports

flag arguments:
  [addr]:		device memory address in hexadecimal
	'all'		    all device memory areas
	'flash'		user flash area

Files:

  • software/ - Python package that implements the picchick CLI front-end
  • firmware/ - Platformio package Arduino firmware for picchick programmer