from PIC to HC(S)08

[Exelsus]

Hello everyone, I'm a complete newbie in freescale, I know a lot of PICs but decided to try this because HC(S)08 processors are a lot more powerful, but I'm a little stuck, let me explain why:

In PICs: I develop whatever I wanted to do in MPlab, then I plug in the serial port a third party programmer (which is about 10$ and works with hundreds of PICs chips), put the chip in the programmer, "burn" the data in the chip using a third party software (ICprog) wait until is done, then take the chip from the programmer, put it into the protoboard/breadboard and then test.

Now I'm stuck in freescale because I know I have to develop with Codewarrior (excelent software), then I have to use a programmer, all that I've seen are very expensive in comparison with my 10$ PIC programmer, but the other thing is that programmers (like cyclone-pro, usb bdm links) doesn't seem to have "holes" to plug the chip, instead have a 9 or 6 pin cable (ribbon cable?) so where does that goes?

So as you can see I'm confused, I've already made an simple program to try in my protoboard but I don't know if I've been looking right for information about the programing part, so if anyone can give me some pointers on what should I do, I'll be very grateful.

Thank you

PS: This post is somehow embarrassing to me considering all much more advanced topics posts I've seen from people here, sorry.

[rocco · Accepted solution]

Hi Exelsus,

Welcome to the world of "in-circuit debugging/programming". You won't look back.

The approach you used with the PIC works well with microcontrollers that can use a socket. But what about the small surface-mount chips? Sockets can be hard to find, and expensive.

The S08s have a pin dedicated to debugging and programming. That pin, along with RESET, power and ground, is what is carried on the six-pin "BDM" cable you speak of. When you design your board, you include a connector for that cable, and you can solder the microcontroller straight onto the board while it is still blank. When you wish to program / debug / update the firmware, you simply plug in the BDM cable. No sockets needed. It also allows you to use the debugger on any board that may be giving you a problem.

As for the price, yes, it is more expensive than $10. But at $50 for the Wiztronics, it is well worth the price. It may be cheaper if you build your own opern-source BDM (see the bottom two forums). I believe it is $100 from Freescale.