Firewing

David,

I compiled the "progLCDPlus.bas" for both the Firewing 16 and Firewing32 compilers and the results are below.





Is it really correct that the PIC32 uses almost twice as much memory for the same program as a PIC24?

Or is me, not really understanding what the results mean? (probably me).

Anyway thanks for making a Firewing version for the PIC32. Now I have to find time to really work with it.
I got Mikrostick II last year that came with a few PIC24's, a DSPIC, and PIC32MX250F128B.

Will the PIC32MX250F128B work with my R2 board? If i can add the appropriate file for the compiler.

Keith

> Is it really correct that the PIC32 uses almost twice as much memory for
> the same program as a PIC24

Yes, that's correct. Don't forget, 32s are based on the MIPS core. The architecture and instruction set is completely different from anything Microchip have done in the past (it's not a Microchip design). There is a lot more read, modify and then write back going on with MIPS - PIC24 can do many of the same functions in a single ASM instruction rather than three. In addition, program words are 32 bits wide and not 24. Add this all up and you get something much larger (and Firewing 32 is using the -O2 option for optimization by default). You would see the same results with eqivilant "C" programs. In short, it's a result of the core architecture rather than the code Firewing generates.

> PIC32MX250F128B

I think this is a USB device so you would need to check the pinouts to see if any have fixed functionality. Personally, I would just grab a PIC32MX150F128B device, then you know everything will work fine and sweet. Yes, your R2 board will work with both 24 and 32 bit MCUs.

Just a follow up...

I took a look at the PIC32MX250F128 and it's pretty similar to the PIC32MX150F128, but it has USB support. This is the problem. Pin 15 on the MX150 is RB6 (used for UART RX) but on the MX250 it's VBUS. So you would not be able to bootload or use 232 comms through the boards 14K50 USB PIC. So I would not recommend the PIC32MX250F128 for a Firewing R2 board. Stick with a PIC32MX150F128.

Yes, I noticed that pin 15 was used for USB.
I will get a PIC32MX150F128.