Different 16-bit families question?

[trastikata]

Hello Les,

I see entire 16-bit PIC MCU families are not supported by the compiler and I was wondering, out of curiosity, if it is because they are using different Assembler (like the new 8-bit Q series) or it's more a question of PPI and DEF file parsing, or something else?

[top204]

It is a combination of both. The devices are different, and sometimes some devices are released by microchip at a later date, and I have missed their release. It is a case of logistics, where new devices are being thrown out by microchip for very little reason, and I have to catch up with their Frankenstein monsters of each other.

Creating and testing the files for the compiler is not a quick task, and I have written a few programs that parse several fdata files released by microchip and hlpe create pseudo compiler files that I then need to go into to make sure microchip have not changed things, yet again in the data, but they keep changing them. I think this is because they now use Java for their applications, and Java writers can "never" make their mind up what goes where and what should be there, or what should be a standard etc... Just like Linux writers. :-)

[trastikata]

Thank you Les for the thorough explanation. In my original post I forgot to say what I came to write in first place ...

I've parsed MC MAPS tables with currently offered 8-bit and 16-bit PIC MCU and did a comparison table with all supported PICs so I can easily look when deciding which PIC to use ... anyway I've noticed that the list with supported MCUs on your site has some letter omissions in the PIC names, which could give false negative search result by potential customers.

For example PIC24E128G202 which is actually PIC24EP128GP202, so if a potential customer uses a search for PIC24EP128GP202, he won't find it, or dsPIC33E128G502 is actually dsPIC33EP128GP502 etc.

I've included an Excel file with simple comparison table - left column (8bit PIC - 16bit PIC - 16bit dsPIC) are the devices offered by MC, Column "Supported" are the devices copied from Proton web site and Column "Name Match" indicates if the "Supported" device has been found in among the MC offered devices, if not - it is probably a letter mismatch.

Best Regards

MC_MCU.zip

[top204]

Many thanks.

They never used to have the "P", they were only F, H and E types. Then they started adding extra characters in the names, just to confuse things even further. :-)