PICkitPlus offers a new reliable alternative solution for Microchip PICkit2 and PICkit3 programmers to support users in programming their hex code into the PIC microcontroller by using this standalone software. In contrast to the original PICkit software, which doesn’t provide support for the newer 8-bit microcontrollers, PICkitPlus includes support for old chips and new chips alike. The PICkitPlus software is a total replacement for the original PICkit 2 and PICkit 3 software, designed to facilitate programming of any 8-bit PIC microcontroller using a supported programmer (either genuine or clone).

This resulted in the launch of the PICkitPlus software in 2018 by the PICkitPlus team. They released the source code for the Windows GUI software, making it possible for users to update and maintain it themselves.

In 20, Microchip stopped providing support for the PICkit 2 and PICkit3 software, respectively. Its successor, the PICkit3 programmer, was released some years later. The PICkit2 programmer was released back in 2005, and allowed the user to program and debug most of the 8 and 16 bit PIC microcontrollers and dsPIC controllers as well. My first programmer software only supported one PIC, the 16C84 - which was the only electronically reprogrammable one at that time.Microchip’s PICkit2 and PICkit3 are both In-Circuit Debugger/Programmers, designed for programming and debugging Microchip PIC microcontrollers (and occasionally EEPROMs). Or Visual BASIC?.īiggest problem with PIC programming software is the huge variety of different devices, along with a goodly number of different programming algorithms, this is why the PICkits continually download updates to their firmware as you switch between different devices. A good choice for you would probably be Lazaruz, which is essentially a free version of Delphi. My 'claim to fame' was writing the worlds first Windows PIC programming software, long before MicroChip ever did any, and I wrote it in Delphi 1.0 moving on from my earlier Turbo Pascal version. It's pretty easy to program PIC's, you just wiggle pins up and down, but why limit yourself to low voltage?.ĭoing it with a processor (like the Arduino) makes it even easier, as it's far easier to 'wiggle pins' on a micro-controller than on a 'modern' PC - old PC's DOS and upto Win3.1 were fine, but after that things got more difficult.

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