Category Archives: PIC Microcontroller
Articles for projects that use the Microchip PIC microcontroller
USB RGB LED VU Meter
This project creates a RGB LED VU Meter which is controlled via USB by a Windows 7 or Vista host machine. The project serves several purposes: Firstly, it demonstrates how to read audio information from the Windows machine and pass this over USB to the device (which is a question which popped up several times […]
Rotary Encoder Demonstration
Rotary encoders are very versatile input devices for microcontroller projects, not only do they provide 360 degrees of rotational freedom they also allow digital positioning information to be gained without the use of analogue to digital converters (ADCs). When using rotational encoders in projects it’s possible to use the same encoder to represent a number […]
USB Performance Monitor
The USB Performance monitor is a PIC18F2550 based device which shows the performance of your computer using two analogue meters and a RGB LED. The design is based around a stock Hi-Fi VU-meter which is controlled using PWM from the PIC18F microcontroller. This project was inspired by a friend of mine who wanted a way […]
Controlling LED brightness using PWM
Pulse Width Modulation or PWM is a term you hear a lot if you are interested in controlling power output using a microcontroller. It has many applications, although one of the most popular amongst hobbyists is controlling the brightness of LEDs. In this tutorial we will cover the basic principles behind PWM and how it […]
Open Source Framework for USB Generic HID devices based on the PIC18F and Windows
If you’ve dabbled with PIC18F microcontrollers and the USB Generic HID standard before (perhaps you’ve even tried my Building a PIC18F USB device project) then you will have noticed that there is a lot of complexity in supporting USB on both the PIC18F and the Windows host-side of things. Getting beyond the basic steps of […]
Open Source Visual C++ Class for USB Generic HID Communication
If you’ve tried to build your own PIC USB devices (perhaps following my earlier tutorial Building a PIC18F USB device) you will have noticed that the Windows host code (based on the Microchip USB stack examples) is far from clear on how to communicate with the device. To make matters easier for people who are […]
Building a PIC18F USB device
I get a number of emails every month asking about creating USB devices using the PIC18F microcontroller. After looking at projects such as my Atari Joystick USB Adaptor and C64 VICE Front-End there seems to be a demand for more information on how to ‘hack your own’. In this article I will show how to […]
UltimateSIMON
UltimateSIMON is a project which takes a broken MB Electronics SIMON game and replaces the original PCB with a completely custom PIC18F2550 based board with improved sound, lights and the ability to be programmed and customised. There’s even a USB header, in case you want to make the project even more crazy. There are a […]
PIC USB Development Board
Since I wanted to do some USB development work with the PIC18F4550 and PIC18F2550 board (for projects like my C64 VICE front-end and Atari joystick adaptor) I needed a USB reference board to develop the software. Initially I ported the Microchip USB stack over to Hi-Tech C18 pro with the help of Richard Stagg. In […]
C64 VICE Front-End
The aim of this project was to create a front-end for Commodore 64 emulation using VICE. One of the primary problems with emulators (especially for machines from the ’80s) is that there was no standard keyboard arrangement. In this project I took a broken Commodore 64 computer and replaced the motherboard with a PIC microcontroller […]