NEW LAPTOP with Windows Vs 11

[salvu]

Dear Members i am moving the Proton picbasic compiler software from an old laptop to a new lap top with windows 11.
pls kinldy guide or advise me as to the best procedure to install ; re latest versions compatible with windows 11 and licence keys carry over from the old laptop .

thanks in advance

Salvu

[Stephen Moss]

Dear Members i am moving the Proton picbasic compiler software from an old laptop to a new lap top with windows 11.

If you are using Proton, rather than Positron that is a very old version and I would strongly suggest you upgrade to Positron (see here) as there have been many changes and any help with code will likely contain commands that are not compatible with much older version of the compiler and so will not be of use to you.

If you meant Positron, then you should have no problems as long as you have your original installation file (Positron Compilers Setup for [your name here]), you should only need to run the exe file to install the compiler, then install any subsequent correction updates/upgrade files you have.

[salvu]

Good afternoon Stephen
thanks for your feedback . i have the file referred to myself and is positron not proton. will do as advised .
what in your opinion is the best environment to run the compiler .......Proton studio ? what is hen the latest version

Thanks again

[Stephen Moss]

what in your opinion is the best environment to run the compiler .......Proton studio ? what is hen the latest version

At one time I had switched to Positron Studio, being familiar with it due to doing a lot of testing during the original development, plus I like the Project manager feature, fuse configurator (now an out of date plug-in for the Mechanique IDE) and dark mode.
So that would be my general preference over the Mechanique IDE that come with Positron, although you may have to temporarily change the Processor ID to match any suitable ISIS board amongst the provided examples the ISIS simulation function of the Mechanique IDE is sometimes still useful for testing bits of code. I don't know for certain what the latest version of Positron Studio is but 2.1.0.4 is the latest I know of.

For some reason Positron Studio has not been working well for me (need to try the latest version), so I tend to flip flop between it and the Mechanique IDE at the moment.
I did try the FineLine but I was not quite as keen on it as Positron Studio and now Normnet is no longer with us it is not being supported/updated.
I don't know if the IDE for Visual Studio Code would work under Visual Studio as well, if it did I may try it, particularly if it also has its own version of a fuse configurator (I can hard code it but a configurator is more convenient).

[salvu]

Thanks Stephen . Really helpful.  As to the prototype boards I have the easy pic 5 bought years ago. I intend to start up again using picmicrocontrollers and want to invest in a new easily setup prototype . What is your advise . Thanks

[John Lawton]

If you want development boards, you might find my Amicus range useful. Les frequently posts code examples using these boards.

The Amicus 8 is an successor to Les's original Amicus 18 (no longer available) for various 8 bit parts and the Amicus 16A/B are new versions for various 16bit PIC devices.

More details here: https://easy-driver.co.uk/amicus/

John

[RGV250]

Hi,
I can second what John is saying, I have an EasyPic 6 and rarely use it as it takes a lot of work to set up. I have 4 of Johns boards (8 & 16) which take Arduino shields so are very flexible.

Regards,
Bob 

[John Lawton]

Thanks Bob.

I've listed some of Les's excellent software examples for the Amicus 8 & 16 bit dev boards to help people get things going.

See the bottom of this page: https://easy-driver.co.uk/Amicus/

However I may have missed some, if so please let me know and I'll add them

John

[Fanie]

Something super retarded of Win11 is that if you want to use an already existing program/drawing and want to "save as" to change for a different application, it tells you you cannot save the file.
You then (like an idiot) change the properties to read/write and the same retardedness repeats itself, it makes your working file a "read only".
The only way to duplicate the file is to copy and paste.
I'm sure in the next version in Windows they will prevent this as well.
Most likely getting vaccinated will be a requirement too.

[Stephen Moss]

Thanks Stephen . Really helpful.  As to the prototype boards I have the easy pic 5 bought years ago. I intend to start up again using picmicrocontrollers and want to invest in a new easily setup prototype . What is your advise

When I mentioned ISIS board I was referring to running code in simulation, if you open the Mechanique IDE that comes with Positron and look towards the top centre you will see a green ISIS icon.
When you click on it you will see there are several boards to choose from, some have displays, some have pots for adjusting a pin voltage, or buttons/keypads and some have virtual instruments like oscilloscopes. These can sometime be handy for simulating code snippets, i.e., if you were writing code to produce an FSK output, testing it on an ISIS board with an Oscilloscope so you can see the waveform before going to hardware may be useful (baring in mind that simulation are sometimes wrong).
I just wanted to clarify what I was referring to in case there was any mis-understanding between real and virtual boards.

As for real hardware, I designed my own prototyping board and mainly use that.
If your Easy PIC 5 still works and it will accept and upload file produced by Positron (i.e., .Hex or .COF) to the PIC rather than its own propriety file format then I don't see why you could not continue to use it if you wanted to.
If I did not have my own prototyping board, then as others have already advocated I would probably get one or more of John' Amicus boards, as far as I can tell Programming is via the ICSP connector rather than USB like the Easy Pic 5, if so that would mean having to purchase a Microchip PicKit or compatible programmer in addition the development board. I have original Microchip PICkit 2 & 3 programmers but use the PICKit Plus software (some here use PICkit minus instead) as it enables programming of newer devices with them rather then the now very out of data Mircochip software that originally came with them (or getting the latest PICkit model). 

While I dislike Arduino in general, a PIC prototyping board like John' that is connection compatible with the many Arduino shields that are out there can speed up prototyping, because if a mass produced shield exists that is suitable for you application it is probably faster and cheaper to use that for initially testing your code than to design and produce your own.
That said, a disadvantage of an Arduino shield compatible development board is the limited number of I/O pins, compared to a board that handles 40 pin devices.

[salvu]

Good afternoon. You are giving me allot of information that shows your dedication and zeal for this microcontroller picbasic programming techniques . I need some time to look into your inputs and start up again .
My intention is to communicate over Modbus with an s7 1200 Siemens plc .
I need the right rs 485 Modbus hardware which I can change to Modbus tcp very easily . I would also like to have some .inc files with ready made procedures to enable Modbus communication without re inventing the wheel .
Can u help

[Fanie]

While I dislike Arduino in general, a PIC prototyping board like John' that is connection compatible with the many Arduino shields that are out there can speed up prototyping, because if a mass produced shield exists that is suitable for you application it is probably faster and cheaper to use that for initially testing your code than to design and produce your own.
That said, a disadvantage of an Arduino shield compatible development board is the limited number of I/O pins, compared to a board that handles 40 pin devices.

Yes and no.

If you have an application that needs 40 pins (good grief !) it is easy to design your own board, but with a lot more provided for functionality than any prefab board.
For any pin you can provide for a pot (A/D) input (PCB or panel mount), pull-up resistor (I2C), protection diodes direction and Vin, Triac and/or FET drive outputs, perhaps a relay, an opp amps etc without wasting too much board space. and without thinning your tracks.  A 0R resistor makes a smart jumper and a cap does not have to be used if provided for, but nice if it is there when you want.
Such a board can then be used for a host of various applications.  You have to spend the time to review what possible apps you want.
I have such a board, it can use from an 8-pin to 20 pin pic, wide or narrow SMD and it evolved over some time, and I have probably used it for more than 50 different applications.
I also spend time to see which components in a layout can sit on top of each other, so I can use different component capabilities, ie small cheap FET or power FET for large currents.
I use the Arduino for the ESP thingies, but I use the IPE and pickit4 for pic things.  Fast and uncomplicated.

Also, when you design your own boards, you know exactly what is on them, while another's board always have the unknown...

3rd picture says - In Brakpan they hit you with a chain without taking the dog off...