Flowkit 2

[QMESAR]

Hi Team
I have been waiting long time for this Flowkit and was very happy to see the news letter that it has been released.
However I have a simple question which is not clear from the Datasheet(possibly you have a user manual which come with it but not on the web)
ItHow do we connect the flowkit 2 to a custom board micro for progremming the DIO and analog pins is clear however nothing is mentioned regarding the programming pin connection .

Then secondly I was very disappointed to see that the Flowkit is driven by an STM32 really what can the STM32 do what a PIC32 cannot do ?
I actually never buy anything that has an ARM on board, I have to reconsider this Flowkit2
I thought you are a microchip 3rd party tool developer company and then you stick a STM in a tool intended for use with Microchips

How come most tool providers start off with microchip grow the company and when the company is on its feet then all jump on the ARM band wagon
and the PIC's get neglected, in my 15 years working with Microchip I have seen this from a few 3rd part tool developers
wat has ARM to offer more that Microchip in the standard embedded world in my opinion Nothing
Its seems Matrix is also going this way as all new stuff from matrix is Arduino ARM related is it time again to change tool provider for me

[Benj]

Hello,

How do we connect the flowkit 2 to a custom board micro for progremming the DIO and analog pins is clear however nothing is mentioned regarding the programming pin connection .

The Flowkit is not a programming tool, It only provides ICD and ICT functionality.

Then secondly I was very disappointed to see that the Flowkit is driven by an STM32 really what can the STM32 do what a PIC32 cannot do ?

We chose the ST Arm device as it supports High Speed USB as opposed to the slower Full Speed USB which is supported by PICs. The USB connection is one of the main bottlenecks for Ghost so moving to the new USB data rate should give us more breathing space for gathering and sending data.

I thought you are a microchip 3rd party tool developer company and then you stick a STM in a tool intended for use with Microchips

The Flowkit can be used with any hardware, PICs, AVRs, ARMs, you could even hook up a Raspberry Pi to monitor the signals etc.

wat has ARM to offer more that Microchip in the standard embedded world in my opinion Nothing

Not much to be honest, mainly just speed and unit cost price. Plus our users have been asking for them for a long time.

Its seems Matrix is also going this way as all new stuff from matrix is Arduino ARM related is it time again to change tool provider for me

I'm sorry to hear that, we are planning PIC32 support for the next version so hopefully this might tempt you to stay with us. I'm far more up to speed with PICs then anything else so PICs are my goto device. Also my latest releases include a 16-bit PIC board with Ghost (EB091), A 16-bit PIC ECIO and the 16-bit PIC Formula AllCode so PICs are still very much on the table and will be moving forwards.

[LeighM]

Hi
Sorry you feel that way, but we certainly have no intention of abandoning Microchip.
To answer your first question: FlowKit 2 is not a programming tool.
The task of supporting programming of all the Microchip devices was considered out of scope for the product at present.
On a personal note, I’ve been designing Microchip devices into products since the late 1980’s so it’s not a case of jumping on a band wagon, but using the most appropriate device for any given product (and ARM v PIC32 was 50/50 on this one
As for Arduino, ARM, and also now RTOS based platforms such as Raspberry Pi, as a company we need to ensure that we support whatever people are using.
Leigh

[QMESAR]

Ben and Leigh

Thank you for your answers it is valid and honest answers.
I ask these question not to try to be funny or critical about your choices however I was caught with this before ,I spend thousands of doller to equip my lab with compilers and development tools from Mikroelektronika all work well and we could develop product for at least 8 years then they grow and then started support for ARM wich is not the problem for me as any company must expand however now support for the PIC compilers are such that it gets updated every 2 years device support is so fgar behind that all the newer devices which are cheaper are not supported forcing us to use and buy other tools again investing in tool chains this is one of the reasons I invested in Flowcode and the necessary development tools and by knowing your limitation of PIC support due to the compiler you use I was forced to buy XC8 XC16 and XC32
I just would not like to keep on changing and invest in tools because the provider change his priorities.

I agree you need to support what your custmers are using but it should be such that the people already spending money on your tools should not be neglected because of other Brands this is my opinion not saying this is the case only saying beaware of it.

last without dragging thsi to far Ben

We chose the ST Arm device as it supports High Speed USB as opposed to the slower Full Speed USB which is supported by PICs. The USB connection is one of the main bottlenecks for Ghost so moving to the new USB data rate should give us more breathing space for gathering and sending data.

PIC32MZ supports Full speed USB QUAD SPI etc the EF family has Floating point units as some of the ARM families,secondly PIC32MZ supports also 200 MHZ clocks so I think
there is nothing that ARM can do which a PIC cannot do

Have good time

[Benj]

Hello,

PIC32MZ supports Full speed USB QUAD SPI etc the EF family has Floating point units as some of the ARM families,secondly PIC32MZ supports also 200 MHZ clocks so I think
there is nothing that ARM can do which a PIC cannot do

Full speed USB runs at 12MHz and is the same as on the USB enabled 18F PICs.
High Speed USB runs at 480MHz.

Quite a big difference there

There is currently no PIC devices I'm aware of that support High Speed USB though if one became available I would be right on it

USB 3 runs into the GHz I wonder if/when we will see this available on a micro.

[QMESAR]

Ben my mistake It was type or not thinking error PIC32MZ does support High speed USB
if I am not mistaken

[Benj]

Aha thanks for the info

I don't think these devices were available at the time we were designing the Flowkit 2 but they do certainly look interesting for future projects and products.

I'll see if I can get hold of a couple and have a play with them.

Though this note from the datasheet is a bit worrying as it sounds like the FS USB speed not HS. Hopefully the USB dedicated PLL allows you to go up to HS frequencies.

If the USB module is used, the Primary Oscillator (POSC) is limited to either 12 MHz or 24 MHz.

One thing I would say is they are not that cheap. Especially when compared to a like for like ST ARM. However looking forward to having a go.

[QMESAR]

Ben
Sure thing I expect as I know microchip in the case of an errata it will be solved and also I think the prices will come down
Just saying the gap between ARM and Microchip is closing all the time

Enjoy your week