Post by thread:Serializing

> Hi Piclisters, > > I'd like to know if someone on this list has ever done something with > serielizeing their productions. I have to give a PIC16F83 a > serialnumber/unique adress > at program time. Does anybody know how i can do this? MPLAB supports serialization via the SQTP feature. Look under the PROMATE menu. Ian Rozowsky Engineering Manager Centurion Systems P.O. Box 506 Cramerview 2060 South Africa Tel : +27-11-708-2680 Fax : +27-11-708-2630 e-mail: spam_OUTrozTakeThisOuTcentsys.co.za web: http://www.centsys.co.za

Hi, I have done this once. I wrote a small C program that generated a single line of object code (Intel INHX16, with checksum and all), containing four retlw-coded 8 bit numbers. The assembly source contained a call/retlw-type access to a table that was not there (it was #defined out for production, but filled with a dummy set of four retlw's for development), only its 1st label, at the address where the C program placed the table later. The C program would take the input INHX16 object, add its line, and output it. The programmer would then program this and bleep (for the operator to change chips). The C program also built a list of codes generated (2 files: one with all the codes generated, one per line, one with 1 code: the last one). This was run in a batch script under DOS, the targets were PIC 16C54s. I only had ~50 chips to program but it worked fine. Note that I did not say that the numbers were in sequence... hope this helps, Peter

----- Original Message ----- From: Alan B. Pearce <.....A.B.PearceKILLspam@spam@RL.AC.UK> To: <PICLISTKILLspamMITVMA.MIT.EDU> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 17:04 Subject: Re: Serializing > >MPLAB supports serialization via the SQTP feature. > >Look under the PROMATE menu. > > but you cannot get at the data from your program! This always seems to be a major omission > by Mchip. Not true. It is the DEVICE ID that is not readable by the program. Using the SQTP file, a serial number is stored IN PROGRAM MEMORY, and is hence available to the processor at any time. Ian Rozowsky Engineering Manager Centurion Systems P.O. Box 506 Cramerview 2060 South Africa Tel : +27-11-708-2680 Fax : +27-11-708-2630 e-mail: .....rozKILLspam.....centsys.co.za web: http://www.centsys.co.za

>I have done this once. I wrote a small C program that generated a single >line of object code (Intel INHX16, with checksum and all), containing four >retlw-coded 8 bit numbers. The assembly source contained a call/retlw-type >access to a table that was not there (it was #defined out for production, >but filled with a dummy set of four retlw's for development), only its >1st label, at the address where the C program placed the table later. >The C program would take the input INHX16 object, add its line, and output >it. The programmer would then program this and bleep (for the operator to >change chips). The C program also built a list of codes generated (2 files: >one with all the codes generated, one per line, one with 1 code: the last >one). This was run in a batch script under DOS, the targets were PIC 16C54s. >I only had ~50 chips to program but it worked fine. Well, i wrote my email just too fast :) I meant that in a project i'm working i need to store the serial numbers into flash/eeprom (onchip). You say one could write a program that alters the hex file and add's the numbers as reltw's? Hmmm.. could you maybe mail me an example (maybe offlist is appropiate). I don't have a C compiler. If you could mail me a sample hex file (original) and an altered hex file (serialized) and a C snippet i would be very greatfull! Also thanx to all the others that reacted! Regards, Jilles Oldenbeuving EraseMEjillesspam_OUTTakeThisOuTrendo.dekooi.nl

Jilles, If you don't have a c compiler you may wish to download the free early version of turbo c. Or, if you want to avoid the repetitive compilation process, I would recommend getting a free copy of awk. Awk can be loosely thought of as "interpreted c". Awk is good for text file manipulation and altering S records and intel hex records is straight forward. Awk.exe is small. Awk syntax is similar to c, but has regular expression capability. Might be worth your investigation. -Rob {Quote hidden}> > You > say one could > write a > program that alters the hex file and add's the numbers as > reltw's? Hmmm.. > could you maybe mail me an example (maybe offlist is appropiate). > I don't have a C compiler. If you could mail me a sample hex > file (original) > and > an altered hex file (serialized) and a C snippet i would be > very greatfull! > > Also thanx to all the others that reacted! > > > Regards, > > Jilles Oldenbeuving > jillesspam_OUTrendo.dekooi.nl >

When i program something PC based, i do it almost every time with Visual Basic. I find it very convinient to just throw together a GUI. Non-techni's can work with it right away (the users that is :) That's why i would like to see how it's done, instead of a complete solution. Regards, Jilles Oldenbeuving {Quote hidden}>If you don't have a c compiler you may wish to download the free early >version of turbo c. > >Or, if you want to avoid the repetitive compilation process, I would >recommend getting a free copy of awk. Awk can be loosely thought of as >"interpreted c". Awk is good for text file manipulation and altering S >records and intel hex records is straight forward. Awk.exe is small. Awk >syntax is similar to c, but has regular expression capability. > >Might be worth your investigation. > >-Rob

>> >MPLAB supports serialization via the SQTP feature. >> >Look under the PROMATE menu. > >> but you cannot get at the data from your program! >>This always seems to be a major omission >> by Mchip. >Not true. >It is the DEVICE ID that is not readable by the program. Using the SQTP >file, a serial number is stored IN PROGRAM MEMORY, and is hence available to >the processor at any time. yeah, alright, having investigated the promate documentation I have found what your talking about. But why the blazes did they limit such a useful function to a certain programmer? Why not have it available whatever programmer you use (I.E. include the picstart plus)! I still come back to the loop that the ID bits could have been made program readable. I cannot think of anything to put in there which I would not want to read by program.

>how it is done I can't give you the source, but here is a rational english outline of what is done: filenames: last_generated_file log_file numbers: last_code new_code strings: line start open last_generated_file // O_RDONLY if not error on open then read line from last_generated_file last_code = parse line if error parsing scream and die fi close last_generated_file else last_code = FIRST_CODE // hard coded value in program fi new_code = hash_somehow last_code // simplest is to increment open last_generated_file for write // O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY if error opening then scream and die write new_code into last_generated_file on one line close last_generated_file open log_file for append or create // O_CREAT | O_APPEND | O_WRONLY if error opening then scream and die fi write new_code into log_file on one line close log_file write new_code as a single line hex (INHX16) record on stdout using proper encoding followed by a NEWLINE (in C), at address taken from arg1. end This is used in a DOS batch file like: date >temp_file copy log_file temp_file log_file :here prompt.bat // ask user to insert chip and punch key or ^C to exit serialh 0x80 >temp_file // this is the program above, compiled copy temp_file hex_file.hex hex_out.hex pgmdrv <many args here> hex_out.hex // program the file goto here // forever Obviously there are no // comments in DOS batch files. It's been a while since I wrote something in DOS shell language so please check the syntax carefully. Some error check phases were omitted in the rational english description above. I remind that a INHX16 file record has the line (record structure): :NNAAAACCDDDD...SS where NN is the number of data (DDDD) WORDS (16 bits) in the line, AAAA the absolute address where the 1st word is placed, DDDD four hex digits expressing a 16-bit word, NN of them, and SS a checksum computed using the sum of all the bytes (not WORDS) in the record, including NN,AAAA,CC and all DDDD, like this: SS = (0x100 - (sum(as above) % 0x100)) % 0x100 where % is the modulo operator. Just in case. There should be a 0x13 at the end of the line. In C one prints '\n' and the compiler and OS library stubs manufacture the proper output for the OS used. In VB I don't know. Peter

----- Original Message ----- From: Alan B. Pearce <@spam@A.B.PearceKILLspamRL.AC.UK> To: <KILLspamPICLISTKILLspamMITVMA.MIT.EDU> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 17:04 Subject: Re: Serializing > >MPLAB supports serialization via the SQTP feature. > >Look under the PROMATE menu. > > but you cannot get at the data from your program! This always seems to be a major omission > by Mchip. Not true. It is the DEVICE ID that is not readable by the program. Using the SQTP file, a serial number is stored IN PROGRAM MEMORY, and is hence available to the processor at any time. Ian Rozowsky Engineering Manager Centurion Systems P.O. Box 506 Cramerview 2060 South Africa Tel : +27-11-708-2680 Fax : +27-11-708-2630 e-mail: RemoveMErozTakeThisOuTcentsys.co.za web: http://www.centsys.co.za