Hi I am Clayton Pillion with the PIC32 MARK 18 at Microchip Technology and this is an introduction to the hardware options we have to be in your PIC 32 development. For those of you new to 32 bit or you are just learning PIC32 I highly recommend the PIC32 starter kit. For $50, the starter kit has all the software tools and hardware you need to experience the PIC 32 development environment.

The board has an integrated debugger, that’s only requiring only a USB cable to your host PC for programming and debugging. The starter board also has 3 LEDs and three switches. This is ideal for porting your favorite software and experiencing the high performance of the PIC32 family.

For those of you who need something application specific there is an expansion connector in the back. Here is the I/O expansion board. Simply connect the starter board like this and now you have full access to all of the signals. The board also contains a J TAG and trace header, connection for an optional power supply, and two pictail plus headers to attach starter cards such as Ethernet or SD card.

This is the pictail plus edge connector for connecting boards such as QVGA board. In this example, this is all the hardware you need to develop a display based application. For those of you who already have the Explorer 16 board which came out a couple of years ago with our family of 16 bit products, all you need to add is a $25 PIC32 pin. Remember with Explorer 16, you need either a REAL ICE ICD 2 or PIC kit 2 for programming. There are two similar options for USB development. I recommend starting with the $55 PIC32 USB starter board. It has the same integrated debugger, form factor and expansion headers the PIC32 starter kit but with the addition of the USB connector for a host device in on the go. For example, you connect a thumb drive here and this is all the hardware you need for developing a USB application such as a host data logger. For those of you who have an Explorer 16 board, simple purchase a $25 PIC32 USB pin and a $65 USB pictail plus starter card. The starter card contains a USB connector for a host device in on the go. Once again remember that an external debugger is required with Explorer 16.

For those of you who may have purchased the PIC32 starter kit and already have an Explorer 16, the $30 pin adapter enables you to connect the PIC32 starter board to one side and then attach this to the pin connectors on the Explorer 16. Now you have the integrated programming debugger on the starter board coupled with the expansion of the Explorer 16. We are almost done now. Let’s take a moment to summarize what we have discussed.

If you are new to Microchip or new to PIC32, I recommend starting with the PIC32 starter kit and adding capabilities needed using the optional I/O expansion board or other expansion boards coming in the future. For those of you who already own Explorer 16, all you need is a PIC32 pin and don’t forget REAL ICE ICD2 or PIC kit 2 for programming. Both those options have some more capabilities. So you can tell with the hardware to your specific needs over time. This concludes the introduction to the development port options for the PIC 32 family of high performance micro controllers. We look forward to working with you in the future.

Read and donwload the PIC32 datasheet