Hi,

I have been using Picaxe chips for a couple of years now, and the're great for small to medium size projects. I don't see the BV500 replacing the 8, 14, 18 or 20 pin picaxes, but for larger projects, the BV500 would make an interesting alternative to the 28 & 40 pin picaxes, especially where speed is important.

For anyone unfamiliar with the picaxe system, they are a similar concept to the BV500 with Basic language built in, but based on the 8 bit PIC series. They are aimed mostly at the education market but are also popular with hobbyists, so I don't know if there will ever be a PIC32 based picaxe.

Now to my questions. Firstly, I already have an axe027 cable. This is a USB to 5V rs232 cable, link attached. Would this make a suitable cable for connecting pc to BV500?

[www.techsupplies.co.uk]

Next question: what software, if any, is needed on the host pc, other than a terminal emulator? If so, will there be a Linux version?

Thirdly, can you suggest suitable terminal emulator for Linux, or will the built-in one in Ubuntu 10.04 for example, be ok?

Thanks,

Paul

I doubt whether the picaxe cable would do, the BV500 needs a COM port as it is a serial device does the cable give you that?

One of the basic ideas of the BV500 is that you don’t need any software on the PC, all operating systems have a terminal emulator, there are quite a few to choose from with Linux so at least you can get going. The main problem is when transferring files using tload, the terminal needs to send a line at a time and wait for the BV500 to send back ACK (6) before sending another line.
This article was written a while ago that uses GKTerm: [doc.byvac.com]

Thanks, yes, the cable does set up a com port, or a virtual one, I understand. I'll have a look at gkterm.

Next question is about power. Can the BV500 run off 2 or 3 NiMH AA cells. 3 would be on the border of the max 3.6V. I could put in an IN4001 diode or two, to drop a little voltage (and protect the chip from accidental reverse connection).

Cheers,

Paul

The data sheet here [doc.byvac.com] gives the working voltages of 2.3 to 3.6 with an absolute maximum of 4.0 so 3 rechargeable would be ideal as that would give a good margin down to 2.3V