Thanks chriss and SmashTV for the comments.
I am still forming a basic understanding of PIC programming with the computer (and electronics in general, and the command line.) I have ordered some PIC programming books, which are on the way.
Although, I plan to start a project without the ability to burn PICs; eventually, I would like to write some code. So, I might as well begin tackling all the computer challenges, now.
I am very new to this, so excuse me if I state the obvious or repeat myself. I have a lot of questions on how to proceed.
What I need first is programs like IC-Prog, MPLAB IDE, and SDCC to write, read, compile, and burn code files. Correct?
It seems that NOT ONE program for writing, compiling and burning code into a chip exists for the Mac! I searched the web for quite some time with no luck in finding anything. Bill really does have a nice monopoly going! Are there any programs that Midibox people are using on Linux? It looks like a lot of development is happening to get PIC programming on Linux - http://www.gnupic.org/. I would like to get a computer running Linux in the near future. A major goal of mine is to use the open-source Ardour digital recording software (http://ardour.org/) with a Midibox, if that is possible!! It would also be great to do all the PIC coding and burning in Linux. I would appreciate any advice on setting up Linux for MIOS.
In the mean time, I would like to try to emulate the Windows environment on my Mac using open source software, rather than buy the Microsoft “Virtual PC on Mac” program. There is an open source project called Darwine, which is porting over the Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) project to OS X. I don’t think wine is working under Mac’s X11.app. Darwine looks very promising, but it is still in development. I wonder if that would work. I am concerned about all of the hardware and software working properly. I still think this might be a good approach, since people can use the software they are used to. With some help, I would like to try this. Is anybody else trying this already?
Where does Perl fit into the Midibox programming settup. By the way I do not know how to read .php files in OS X. How does one do that? In the bootstrap page, Thorsten talks about a perl script to convert hex to syx. Where is that? Do you need to download it?
Do I have this straight? When a PIC is first burned, it needs to use the JDM Module or now the Brocolli18. After that, any changes can be done through MIDI using the bootstrap loader and programs like MIDI-OX and (for Mac) SysEx Librarian. Correct? Is the bootstrap loader code that is written into the MIOS? Or is it hardware? The beginning description in the MIOS Bootstrap Loader section tells what it does - not what it is. I am not sure what it is.
It would be nice if MIOS/PIC programming was worked out for the Mac OS X/Darwin/X11 and Linux platforms and then documented on the web site. I personally would like an alternative to needing Windows. Maybe some sections of the forum dedicated to getting different computer OS’s operating with various hardware and software could be helpful to a lot of people. Let me know what you all think, if you wish.
Thanks.
