Microcontrollers Made Easy

Operating Manual

These procedures will guide you through the steps of getting the MicroBoard running with the MicroTech Integrated Development Environment.

Developing programs for MicroBoard

1	The MicroTech developing IDE invokes commands, CMP.EXE to compile programs for MicroBoard.
2	TinyC programs are simply text files, any text editors can be used.
3	The MicroTech IDE is given to develop, compile and download programs for the MicroBoard.
4	Right click anywhere on the text will invoke the popup command menu.
5	Programs are saved automatically before submitting for compilation.

Downloading and storing programs into MicroBoard

1	Connect the serial cable to the two COM ports (settings in "microtech.ini" config file) of PC and MicroBoard.
2	Switch on or press the Reset button on the MicroBoard.
3	Press the PC button until message, “PC 0-4”, appears ,then press digit '0'..'4' to select the program storage location. WAIT until the selected digit disappear on the display before starting the download process!
4	Click the Download button on the IDE menu bar.
5	The red and green LEDs flashing along as data transfer is in progress.
6	After a successful download, the message, "Done" appears.
7	Soon after, the message, "Run 0-4" appears, then press digit '0'..'4' to select the program to run.
8	Note: Error message, “Size Error”, will be displayed if the size of the loaded program is too large for the available program memory space. The size of the compiled code file has no direct relationship with its run-time memory requirement!

Running programs

1	Switch on or press the Reset button on the MicroBoard.
2	Wait until message, "Run 0-4", appears, then press digit '0'..'4' to select the program to run.
3	A number appears indicating the amount of free run-time memory units.
4	Program starts running.

I/O Pins Arrangement

1	Pins 0 to 7 are connected to segments, a to h of 7-Segment display, respectively.
2	Pins 8 to 15 are connected to inputs (via 15K resistors) of ULN2003 and all the output ports are initially turn-on after a reset.
3	Pins 8 to 19 are connected to keys 0 to 9, System and User buttons, respectively.
4	The speaker is arranged to connect to Pin 12, but you can use a jumper wire to modify this default setting if needed.

Attentions and Cautions

1	Because of about 1.6V voltage dropouts by both the 7805 and 7806 regulators, at least a 7.6V power supply is recommended in order for the system to function properly. Heat sinks might be needed if the voltage regulators are getting too hot to touch.
2	High speed motors will generates a lot of electronic noises which will affect system operation. In the worst case, these electronic noises will alter the values of data stored inside the chips (N.B. This phenomenon applies to all circuits boards, not just this one!) and might damage the on-chip run-time system. In this case, you are required to send back the MicroBoard to us to reset the whole system. Please use those gearhead motors as recommended in our webshop.
3	The delay() and sound() functions only provide approximation of time accuracy, consideration must be taken for designing time critical applications.
4	Functions, writes() and writec() display formatted representations of characters on the 7-Segment display. Please do get familiar with those displaying patterns. You can use function, writeb() to show an unformatted byte.
5	The last 27 bytes of 24C02 are reserved for system housekeeping usage and data will be overwritten each time when the system is reset.