Development Tools

MPLAB IDE

MPLAB IDEŽ is an integrated development environment from Microchip. It can be downloaded for free from their web site at www.microchip.com. Just look for the "MPLAB IDE" link and click on it!



MPLAB C18 Compiler

The MPLAB C18 compiler is a C compiler for the PIC18 family of PIC microcontrollers from www.microchip.com. A free student version can be downloaded from their site. Go to www.microchip.com, click on the "Development Tools" link and look for the MPLAB C18 compiler link. The free version creates a bit larger code, but apart from that is a fully functional compiler! The Modtronix SBC65EC Web Server can be compiled with the free version!

All MPLAB project included with source code downloads have been configured for when the MPLAB C18 C compiler is on the c drive in a folder named "mcc18". If this is not the case, the user will have to:



Hi Tech PICC18 Compiler

The Hi Tech PICC18 compiler is a C compiler for the PIC18 family of PIC microcontrollers from Hi Tech. For details on this compiler, see www.htsoft.com.



Modtronix Network Bootloader

The Modtronix Network Bootloader application is a user friendly program that is used to:

For the latest version of the Modtronix Network Bootloader, documentation and screen shots, please go to www.modtronix.com/info/netloader.

Updating the firmware

No PIC programmer is required. The Modtronix Ethernet enabled target board used must have a bootloader installed on it. Such a board can be identified by a BLN Vm.nn label on the front of the board - normally stuck on the RTL8019AS 100 pin network chip. Where Vm.nn is the version number of the bootloader.

Updating the Web pages

The Modtronix Network Bootloader is also used to compile and upload Web pages to the target Ethernet board. This is a simple two stage process, and is done by clicking the "Compile" and "Upload Web Pages" buttons. Before web pages can be uploaded, they have to be compiled to a File System Image. A File System Image is a single file that contains the entire file system that is present on the target board. After compiling the standard web pages to a File System Image, they are uploaded to the target Ethernet board.



Modtronix Embedded Debugger

The Modtronix Embedded Debugger is an utility for displaying debug information generated by an embedded board. Currently it only supports RS232 communication. The embedded board will generate "debug messages", and write it out via its RS232 port. This debug information will consist out of a "debug code", "message code" and optional "message parameters". On receiving the debug information, the Modtronix Embedded Debugger will look up the message assigned to the received "message code" in the project files, and display it in the Debug Tab indicated by the received "debug code". Using this method to output debug information means that the embedded board only needs to send a short message (typically two bytes long) for a detailed debug message to be displayed. This saves both code space in the embedded board's CPU, and requires less time to send the message.

For the latest version of the Modtronix Embedded Debugger, documentation and screen shots, please go to oldsite.modtronix.com/soft/mxd.


Generated on Wed Feb 3 12:45:36 2010 for SBC65EC Web Server by  doxygen 1.5.8