Use of RS-232 and SPI boards together on HP-488 board

[Mark]

Can I use the RS-232 and SPI boards together with a HP-488 board? Both presumably need to be connected to Port C in tandem using an extension cable. However, there seems to be some overlap in the use of port C pins? Can this be resolved using the patch system?

Assuming they can be used together will a Flowcode allow me to move the pin assigments to match?

I am hoping that I have not made a fundamental mistake on the use of port C pins!

Thanks,

[Benj]

Hello Mark

Which PIC micro are you using.

The RS232 uses the following pins

RX and TX

The SPI uses the following pins

SDO, SDI and SCL

Therefore it is possible on most PIC devices to connect both the RS232 and SPI to the PortC and use the patch system to channel the pins to the correct locations on the E-Blocks. You may need to be aware of enable pins etc as they may collide with other pins outs in use.

[Steve]

It should work fine as long as the PICmicro in question does not multiplex the UART pins (rx/tx) with the SPI pins (SCK, SDO, SDI). You will need a splitter cable, or if you are careful you can use the patch system to connect between the boards.

Flowcode allows you to alter some pins, such as CTS/RTS and the enable lines of the SPI E-Block. But the core TX/RX and SCK/SDO/SDI pins cannot be altered.

[Mark]

Steve,

Once again many thanks. I will be using the 16F876 which has the correct pins. Thanks for clarifying the pins that Flowcode uses.