About a year ago, while I was developing the blink(1) mk2, I created both a PIC16F1455 development board and a little assemblage that was tiny enough to toss in my laptop bag but powerful enough to let me develop on the PIC. I could now develop firmware in a coffeeshop!
It consists of:
- Sabrent 4-port USB hub (with per-port power switches)
- PICKit3 PIC programmer
- Custom PIC16F1455 development board
- Mini solderless breadboard
- a prototype blink(1) mk2 with previous version firmware
All taped together with double-stick foam tape.
The Sabrent USB hub is because it acts a partial goof-protector if I short USB power & ground and the per-port power switches make it easy to power-cycle the device I’m developing without unplugging-replugging. The solderless breadboard is just big enough to support the addition of a few extra components. And my dev board has female headers with male pins that stick into the breadboard, holding it securely place and making wiring to the dev board a snap.
If only MPLAB X & PICKit3 wasn’t so pokey for programming (it can take 15 seconds from the time you click “Upload” to having your code running on the device)