PIC’s are great, they really are… they have great features, decent instruction sets, there’s lots to choose from, their manufacturer released a great IDE (MPlab) what could go wrong? Unfortunately the PIC is somewhat lacking when it comes to development software for Linux, and by this I mean IDE’s & Compilers. Here I will be dealing with getting your very own uC lab set up using Ubuntu Linux and some freely available tools.
By the end of this article we are going to have the following…
- An IDE to develop in. [PIKlab]
- A C compiler to develop with. [Hi-Tech C Lite]
- A PIC simulator and some utilities to help debugging. [GPsim & GPutils]
Continue reading ‘PIC Development, Linux Style’
Don’t be alarmed, we haven’t gone missing on you, we’re still around working on stuff in the background, were linked up with PhishBone.org now who are kinda sorta’ sponsoring us and letting us use their equipment. If there is anything specific you would like to see built then leave a comment here and we will do our best to get it covered. The next project is going to be an antenna for our ACARS receiver now that is based on a €2.00 TV antenna I bought in the €2 shop.
What is ACARS?
ACARS stands for ‘Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System’. Essentially it is a digital data link between aircraft & ground stations via radio systems. In some cases it can be used as an alternative to voice communications systems for small messages such as current frequencies. Initially it was designed to reduce the workload on Air Traffic Controll (ATC) staff and flight crew.
Continue reading ‘ACARS Decoding’
Build Fun Stuff will become a staple part of any tinker’s diet with a growing list of projects that can be built by you, at home! It will have full documentation for the projects, how they work, it might get a little technical every now and again but we guarantee that you wont be disappointed!
