In addition to ordering the rest of the SES brackets for The BiPod, I have also ordered one of these Oricom Technologies OOBOT40-3 Robot Controllers, which comes stock with an ooPIC II+ microcontroller. This board is also pin compatible with the Microchip 18F4620, 18F4680, and probably the 18F4685 microcontrollers, so it could find use with these chips also. 
Iāll post more details after I have mine in hand and have had a chance to work with it a bit.
8-Dale
The Microchip 18F4620 PIC would be of interest to me. maybe the '4680 as well. What was the outcome?
Alan KM6VV
I am stalled on this project for now, but am planning to start back with it in a month or so as funds are available for parts. I still need to replace my Sabertooth motor controller and get the ICD2 for the PICs, as well as locate the sockets somebody showed me that are 28 and 40 pin with ICSP connections wired on them - this will be an important part for my setup.
8-Dale
I have some of the MicroChip MPLAB-ICD Headers. Theyāre nice! 40 pin for '877 is BUR055060047. Maybe it works for the 4620 and 4550 as well? I hadnāt thought about that! Iāve got surface mounted parts, and an ICD2 header built into the circuits. The smaller headers often have a chip on them to break out a few more signals, not sure whatās available.
Alan KM6VV
Yes, Iām almost certain the same headers will work. This was something I was appalled at when I started working with Atmelās chips, that they didnāt do something as simple as Microchip did in keeping all the programming pins in the same place across a single chip footprint.
Have you contacted our customer support about the Sabertooth that needs to be replaced? We try to be quite liberal about our repair/replace policy, even in cases of extreme customer abuse like hooking it up backwards. Motor drivers live hard lives, and while we strive to make ours as blowproof as possible, if you blow one anyway we try to take care of you.
Plus, any we get back adds to our collective knowledge, letting us make them more indestructable in the future! Eventually theyāll be unstoppable even with a nuclear blast, which is when theyāll decide to let it be known theyāre sentient. I hope to be retired by then.
Hey dimrobot
When I buy my next nuclear blast prove sabertooth, does it come with a warranty for those who survive ?
No, I have not. I just accepted my fault in what I did and would not expect anything to be replaced. It is not the fault of the Sabertooth in any way. I think my eyes just crossed and I didnāt realize until I heard the crackling what had happened. The interesting thing is only half of the Sabertooth seems to have been damaged. I havenāt tried it, but I think one half still works at least in part and the LEDs do not show a fault if I understand the manual correctly.
8-Dale
If you blow a sabertooth up with a nuclear blast and get video, I will give you a lifetime supply of them, regardless of whether it survives or not.*
*some restrictions apply, void where prohibited, not valid in Iran, Pakistan or North Korea, see store for details, while supplies las.t.
It should work for the 4620 and 4680, but I have not compared the pinouts of the 4550 to the 16F877A yet. I will get that done because now I am curious also. I already verified pinout compatibility for the 4620 and 4680.
I have also jumped in with both feet and ordered my ICD2 from Sparkfun. I will be starting to put my development environmet for PICs together as soon as I get the ICD2. 
Do these ICD headers have the 40 pin socket as well as the ICSP header? I also want to get something similar for the 28 pin PICs as well as the dsPICs (28 and 40 pin) if they exist.
EDIT: Corrected ā4720ā to be ā4620ā
8-Dale
Hi Dale,
My 40 pin header has the ICD2 connector on it. It is probably harder to find a header for the 28 pin and smaller devices. Seems they often use another PIC to āsimulateā (ISP?) functions, and are thus only for a specific part. I wish theyād write them up more.
I suspect you can use 28 header pins on the bottom of the adapter, and āplug inā a 40 pin part for operation in the circuit. I just wire in a 6 x .1" .025" header on the board Iām building, and a custom cable over to the ICD2.
I got one from āEasyā something or other, never could get it to work. Iād be curious to hear how yours works.
Alan KM6VV
The Olimex ICD2 I am getting from Sparkfun was recommended by a knowledgeable fellow who has and uses one, so I believe my chances of having it work for me are very good. I was told it will program both the standard PICs and dsPICs, which is what I need.
Iāll look for those headers, or possibly see if I can find a solderless breadboard compatible connector for the ICSP connection to my circuits.
This is a whole new learning project for me.
8-Dale
Olimex is a good vendor, It probably works as advertised.
Iāve worked with ICD2 and a few of the headers, If I can help any, just ask.
As I mentioned, simple .025" pin headers work well, and prototype areas often have a grid of holes on .1" centers, as these connectors require.
On another note, I got my 18F4550 board talking to the PS2. Itās running a port of Laurent Gayās 1.36 3DOF-C BASIC Atom code to Hi-Tech āCā. Itās generating SSC-32 commands, I hope to have my board talking to the SSC-32 board and my friendās Hexapod later this week. Iām quite anxious to see how the IK runs!
Alan KM6VV
I think all I will need is a way to get the ICSP signals from the ICD2 to the PIC or dsPIC that will be in my circuits.
Is there a source for those headers you have, such as Digi-Key? If they have the 40 pin headers then they probably have a 28 pin header also, both with ICSP. I think this would be my idea solution.
Cool! Iāll be interested in hearing of your progress. Maybe you could start another thread about it, if you have not already.
8-Dale
I found this 6 pin polarized right angle connector at Sparkfun, for connecting to the ICSP on the new ICD2. I wish I had found this before I ordered my ICD2, but this means I can probably get the same or similar connector at a local electronics store (not Radio Shack). This should be ideal for using with a solderless breadboard.
8-Dale
HI Dale,
That looks like the connectors we use on our boards, or even the straight ones. For demo boards, the RJ-11 or whatever it is works even better! But the on-board connector is big, and harder to breadboard.
Iāve asked a few questions on a PS2 thread, and mentioned the processor project on another thread; I donāt want to start too many threads on a too-similar project!
Perhaps weāll have a 'bot moving sometime in the next week. Then I can get some pix together, and some additional comments, if people are interested.
There is a fairly new PIC demo board out, the DM183022 (HPC board) which supports a plug-in module w/ a USB as well. With a little work I can port over to several PICs, so Iām just picking a small board to go with the SSC32. The PICDEM FS USB demo board Iām currently using works good too. I may or may not decide to use the USB.
On another matter, I just got back from vacation, and there was a Renesas H8 (RSKH8SX1664) starter kit waiting for me! I believe there is a limited memory size compiler in the kit. Thatās a candidate chip for the 'Bot board or maybe even the SSC32, as I recall.
Digikey has the connectors, try the A1923-ND (vert), itās what we use. Mate is WM2004-ND.
Alan KM6VV
P.S. Iām expecting a āBirthdayā package from Lynxmotion in a week or two! Servos, brackets, who knows what!
Along with the Olimex ICD2 I also ordered the conversion cable set which allows connecting the RJ-11, ICSP, etc. to the ICD2. I may not need this, but I figured it would be good to have on hand just in case.
I will take a look at this, but I have to work within a very fixed income. I wish I could, but canāt just go out and get all the cool things I would like to experiment with. I have a lot of various PIC and dsPIC chips, so can afford to fiddle around with them as much as I want to.
I have both the 36077 (56K Flash, very similar to the Atom PRO) and the H8SX/1664 starter kits. I have a thread going about these if youād like to discuss them more.
I am awaiting my replacement for the Sabertooth 2x5 (non R/C) controller also. Gotta love companies like Lynxmotion and Dimension Engineering!! I wish there were more out there like them.
8-Dale
I received my Olimex ICD2 today! I was not expecting it until Friday.
I plugged the USB cable into the ICD2 and then into my powered hub, and fired up MPLAB. It seems to find the ICD2 just fine, but of course can not do some things the regular Microchip ICD2 can do such as download new operating systems. Well, I just want to be able to program the PICs and debug with the ICD2, so this will hopefully not be a drawback.
I do have the cables to convert to the RJ-11 connector, so would this be preferred over the 6 pin connector if I can find one that is solderless breadboard friendly? I plan to go to a local electronics store (not Radio Shack, but what Radio Shack once was) ASAP to search out connectors so I can start working with PICs.
I am anxious to write a small program to perhaps blink some LEDs, program a chip and try it out. I think I will start out with an 18F2620 once I get a breadboard friendly ICD2 compatible connector.
As soon as I know I can successfully program a PIC and make it all work in a circuit, I will order my OOBOT40 controller board. I am leaning more towards the OOBOT40-II because it has more of the 3 pin header sets for sensors and servos. The OOBOT40-II also seems to be more like the Mini Atom Bot Board, which I really like. I would rather use a Sabertooth 2x5 to control motors instead of a motor controller integrated on a board with the MCU.
8-Dale
Hi Dale,
Downloading would seem to be important. Iāve seen mine download 3 or four times in the last week as I changed MPLAB and chip families. Did they specify a particular version of MPLAB? 7.6x is out, I had to download it for 24FJ something or other parts. Funny you canāt download. Even the āEasyā ICD2 clone I got some time ago could do that. I should dig it out and try it again. It came with a nice ZIF socket adapter that was worth the whole price!
If you can terminate the RJ11 w/ telco cable into the female connectors I mentioned, I believe the male pin header (streight) will push (harder) into a solderless breadboard just fine. Iād be more tempted to prototype with a plated hole board and wirewrap sockets. I have also CNC milled a few boards. You should be good to go!
Are you getting the OO PIC with the board as well? I couldnāt find a price for the board without the chip. They have some sort of Object Orientated BASIC interpreter. I wouldnāt be much interested in going there. By using standard C, I can port a program to several different chips. 16F, 18F, 24F PICs, ARM7, and AVRs just to start! Even 8051ās have C compilers nowadays! Have you seen a schematic for the board? Sounds like a plan!
Alan KM6VV
I think I know why it wonāt download - I donāt have a chip connected to be programmed. Since MPLAB canāt see a PIC connected to the ICD2, it gives an error when it tries to verify that the PIC I have selected to program is really what is connected. Does that make sense?
When I get an OOBOT board (next month, hopefully), I will get it fully assembled with the OOPIC II+. I really like the virtual circuit concept and want to experiment with it. In fact, I like the whole Object Oriented programming idea, and have done a bit with C++.
Yes indeed, and this is one reason I am moving my robotics development over to standard C (and C++ in some cases). I am also very interested in ARM and AVR MCUs, but also still see very good uses for modules such as the ooPIC, Atoms, NetBurner Mod5213 (which I also want to get at some point), and CuBloc (another I want to work with sometime).
I havenāt seen a schematic for any of the OOBOT boards, but I have exchanged several e-mails with the owner of Oricom Technologies (makers of these boards) and am comfortable with getting one. I do need to ask him about the possibility of wiring up an ICSP connector in the prototype area to be sure it wonāt harm any components on the board or anything connected to it when used.
8-Dale
