Comments on: How-To: Web server on a business card (Part 1)

By: Dave (VA7DB)

Dave (VA7DB) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:27:01 +0000

Ian very kindly gave us all a page with a link to where the live Micro Server V2 is running and discussion of firmware mods etc is taking place. This is an especially good place for folks new to the project to see how it all functions and get access to the latest topics, FAQ’s etc.
http://whereisian.com/forum/index.php?topic=51.0

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:47:07 +0000

Hey Dude, Yeah, it’s not a simple task learning to write the code but actually programming the PIC is relatively easy, the instructions that come with the programmer are straight forward enough.
There are lots of books around to teach programming but my old brain seems to prefer hardware :-)
I have my unit complete and working but our local ISP blocks port 80 so we had to change the code to run on 81, it works fine but still having local issues getting around the ISP / router and redirecting folks to port 81.

Dave

By: whispers

whispers — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:53:08 +0000

off topic a bit…

but where can a complete noobie go to start learning how to program PIC24f microcontrollers?

I have flashed some before..with other peoples HEX files.. but want to understand/leanr and start writing my own code to control/manipulate the chip.

thanks

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:00:05 +0000

Board built and ready to program PIC, need help with ICSP (which circuit to use..I found the various messages very confusing )
Any helpful pointers appreciated…..can’t afford the Microchip (commercial) programmers!
Thanks Dave

By: Jerry Kaidor

Jerry Kaidor — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:08:40 +0000

VERY interesting info here! I was doing a project with the 16F876A – just got frustrated with software issues: 8 level stack, software can’t read it, no pushes, no pops. No local variables – just umpteen “temp” variables. And the contortions you have to go through to have some strings in ROM?

I looked at the 18F parts – 16 stack positions? Ugh. Went for the gold with the 24F and a REAL STACK. Would have gone straight to the 32bit parts except they’re apparently not available in DIP. And I’m not good enough at Toner Transfer ( yet ) to want to mess with surface mount.

Somebody wondered what such a small part could do – useful – as a webserver. I figure that any little gadget you might build that needs a console of some kind could do it with a server. Don’t need buttons, lights and switches. Don’t need fancy expensive displays, either. Just an Ethernet connector in front. Maybe a power switch. Or maybe not. Make the “front panel” as fancy as you want, it’s just HTML.

– Jerry Kaidor

By: jaymus

jaymus — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:49:42 +0000

I’m trying to find a cheap programmer for this board. I’ve already built it, but I didn’t worry too much about programming it at first.

This site looks somewhat relevant, but I don’t think it’s what I really want (may be helpful to others): http://www.melabs.com/support/3v_icsp.htm

Upon further investigation, it seems to me like the way to go is buy a $35 PICKit2 USB programmer from here: http://www.microchipdirect.com/productsearch.aspx?Keywords=PG164120

I found a site where someone made a similar programmer themself, though I don’t think it’s worth it in this case: http://www.mcuhobby.com/articles.php?article_id=7

According to the supported device list (http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en027813) the PICKit2 indeed can program the PIC24f used for this project. However I’m not certain it can program the PIC while it’s on the board.

If anyone could provide extra information on programming this thing, that’d be super awesome.

Cheers

By: Carlos

Carlos — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:39:39 +0000

Please if you know where to by all the parts and the board , i will apreciate.
Tks
Carlos

By: AD5OS

AD5OS — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:01:00 +0000

Anyone have a link to a website that this thing is serving? I can’t seem to find one.

By: Emanuele

Emanuele — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:24:03 +0000

Cool stuff!
I developed something similar, few months ago.
FTPmicro embedded web server and ftp client, schematics and firmware are Open Source to download
(stack microchip with some modification – feed rss reader – fat16 – ftp client)

Example application: ANSA news on the LCD or sending emails with picmicro

http://dev.emcelettronica.com/ftpmicro

By: Gryph

Gryph — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:53:11 +0000

What purpose could a web server of this low capactiy serve as a use? I have alot of webserver projects, some requiring high end rackmounts and some that could run on systems as old as atari keybaords (if they could connect to the net of course lol)

So what could this little project handle? Anyone have any feedback?

By: neodux

neodux — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:43:23 +0000

I’d be interested in BUYING one of these from anyone that can successfully build one for me. Email me, or drop a message on my website shoutbox.

By: jacksmadi

jacksmadi — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:58:12 +0000

this is awesome

designin it is not a leet

By: Ken Keiter

Ken Keiter — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:03:01 +0000

This is great! I designed a board (centered around the F84) that did this in sophomore year of high school! Worked like a charm… and I made 20 of em. They were around the size of this one, but weren’t SMT. I had this awesome company called PCB123 (pcb123.com) produce them for me, which was cool because of the quick turnaround.

By: Hazmat

Hazmat — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:12:13 +0000

This is a great article- it really shows how to get the most out of a PIC24. If you like the PIC24, check out the PIC32- a 32 bit 80MIPS processor with lots more memory, and is pin compatible with the higher pin count PIC24s (though not the one in this article). You can program all microchip parts (8-32 bit) with the PICKIT2 ($35), which is lots cheaper than the ICD2, though you have to use a separate program.

By: Odin84gk

Odin84gk — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:53:05 +0000

General Downsides of the Pic:
Read the Errata first! It had some horrible issues with I2C and the AtoD in the earlier versions of silicon. (collision issues and a slower sampling speed)
Don’t use the internal Pull-ups to interact with an external device that uses an open-collector output. The internal pullups don’t pull the device up to Vcc, but the port set to look at it compensates by having a different threshold.
Realize that analog functionality cannot be re-routed.
When you are using a analog pin as a digital output, remember to disable the analog functionality first.
Power: Pay attention to the maximum current per pin (especially important on the PIC24H and the DSPIC33).
And last but not least: The internal clock runs at Osc/2. This means 2 clock cycles for every instruction.

Good luck (and enjoy your vectored interrupts :)