Say 'Hello' to the new icon!

You got a Feed Reader?

The news is now published via an Rss Feed!

The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.   This release is called V0.98.01

This release supports the 18f2xK42 microcontrollers and the critical patches for the v0.98.00 as follows:

• Improved GLCD  support by updating the ILI9341 driver to support OLED Fonts.
• Improved CCP/PWM  for fixed mode CCP1/PWM thru CCP5/PWM.
• Fixes for corrected maths in StrInteger and labels,  HWI2C to resolve a potential lockup in 16f18855 class of chips.
• Improved IDE for handling IF-THEN-ELSE-IF in the editor.
• 18F2xK42 chip support with updates to the compiler for i2c, spi, adc, pwm and chipfiles.  See the K42 specific release note.
• Compiler fix to allow for interrupts on newer PIC18F chips with INTCON0 rather than INTCON register.
• Fixed I2C module support for I2C LCD and I2C Discovery and updated the LCD.H and HWI2C.H with for new demos.

The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.   This release is called V0.98.00

This release include many new features and fixes as follows:

• Timers: Improved timer support for timers 3 / 5  for chips with TxCLK register, previous release only supported Timer1 and timer support updated to include AVR support.
• Improved performance and quality improvements
• New GLCD devices
• Support I2C (both software and hardware) and performance improvements  by optimising write byte code
• New driver for GLCD SSD1306 displays with 128*32 pixels
• Updated GLCD SSD1306 to improve performance within PSET method and corrected errors with variable usage
• New GLCD Drivers for the ILI9348L and ILI9481L
• And, a host of library performance enhancement
• New drivers
  • MPU6050 - 6 Axis sensor demonstration
  • 74XXX_EERAM a library for Microchip EERAM
• PPSTool
  • Updated software to v0.0.5.5 of the tool and 1.36.1 of XML data files
• SPI updated to add FastHWSPITransfer ( byte_variable ) to support methods and updated the Help

• Compiler enhancements and fixes for the following:
  • Else If implemented
  • Added support for word, integer and long arrays
  • 18f large config buffer issue
  • Incorrect error generated when #option explicit used with unary operators on any microcontroller or rotate command on AVR
  • Fix for non-number (includes decimals)type of var in table
  • Fix for issue when additional comma is specified when creating an array
  • Fix for leading 0 in table entries
  • Errors 1 and 2 now create message log entry to ensure user see and resolves the errors
  • Updated message file to support new messages
  • Invalid items in a data table will cause an error message with the error location
• Updated the ChipData of the chip data files are now added to program as constants (with Chip added to the name - so Pins=28 in the chip data file creates a constant with the name ChipPins and the value 28 in the user program

• ADC improvements
  • Updated ADC library to further improve quality and improve consistent usage across the commands.
  • Updated ReadAD, ReadAD10 and ReadAD12 to improve Information provided

• PWM
  • New command HPWMUPdate and another set of improvements in the library
  • New constants for user use PRxPeriodRegister and TimerXprescaleselectValue
  • Support for 8bit call to 10bit PWM (non-CCP) method
  • Memory improvements in terms of PWM methods and program size
  • Support for HPWM_Fast within 10bit PWM (non-CCP) method
  • Removal of script to calculate PR2Temp. Replaced with Sub-routine this reduces code size
  • Removal of complexity by removal of FnLSL in calculateDuty method
  • Added support for HPWMOff ( channel, PWMHardware ). Turns of 10bit PWM (non-CCP) channel
  •  
• Improved documentation and a lot more demonstrations program

The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.  This release  is callled v0.97.00

• Introduction of the PPSTool for Great Cow BASIC.  This new PPSTool support the easy configuration of PPS when using Microchip Pics. Thanks go to Pete Reverett.
• New Software Serial libraries. Optimised for size and performance. Includes Demos and Help. Thanks go to Frank Steinberg.
• Added priority to #startup to support PPS methods. You can now prioritise the order in which the key methods are called when initialising a chip. Updated 65 demonstration files to use the revised #startup for PPS.
• Fixes to the installer to handle Windows 10 and revised the Linux installer.
• Added Oscillator Support for PIC18FxxK40.
• Refreshed all the .dat files to revert LF files, where required, and, to improve register/bit order.
• More support for Microchip 8-bit microprocessors. We have updated the compiler to support the new instruction set and changed the format of the .dat files with Interrupt on Change now supports PortChange for any IOC event.
• GETUseriD. A new library to support ID identification of Microchip microcontrollers. See the demo folder for lots of examples.
• Improved Help and IDE Context Help.
• Improved I2C Slave support via a State Library.
• GLCD driver for the SDD1306 now supports SPI.
• Improved support for Microchip and Atmel 8-bit microprocessors with over 900 different processor types now supported.
• Over 570 demonstration files that showcase the breadth and depth of Great Cow BASIC capabilities with new CLC demonstration for Xpress board.
• Various fixes for reported bugs and issues.

The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.  This release  is called v0.96.00

• Added support for a new range of microcontrollers including the 16f18877 and the 16f15355 range, see the chip folder of the installation .  We now support over 1100 microcontrollers.

• Improved the overall compiler and supporting libraries to improve performance and quality of the solutions - the compiler is not 1000% faster.

• New SH1106 GLCD driver and assiocated demos.

• Improved support for Microchip PPS.

• Revised bootloader support include new revision of the TinyBootloader interface specific to Great Cow BASIC.

• Revised IDE that improves the user experience, improved Help and IDE Helpers.

• 600+ demonstration files to show how easy it is to use Great Cow BASIC.

• Plus another 100's fixes or patches since the last major release!!

The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.  This release  is called v0.95.007

• Added support for the Linux distribution.
• Support for the Xpress Evaluation board including a host of demonstrations for the Xpress Evaluation board.
• New GCB utility to load hex file into Microchip Xpress board.
• Improved performance to increase productivity and to reduce compilation time.
• Improved string handling. Strings can be defined with escape characters like quotes and semi-colons.
• New volatile bit can be defined that improves setting for specific bits.
• Enhanced bit Not operator - now works with bit variables!
• Further improvements to #option explicit.
• Ethernet support for ENC28J60 adapter with a full TCPIP stack. This is a separate download.
• Performance improvements to further improve productivity.
• New optimisation options for A-D.h and PWM.h to reduce the size of generated asm and hex file.
• Improved support for 900+ Microchip and Atmel 8-bit microcontrollers
  • Microchip 10F, 12C, 12F, 16C, 16F, 18C and 18F devices.  The LF devices are now automatically supported (no need for LF specific chip files).
  • AVR microcontrollers Classic AVR, Tiny AVR and Mega AVR devices.
  • Support for 16f85xx class of microcontroller plus changes to the supporting hardware files.
  • New commands to support PPS.  LOCKPPS and UNLOCKPPS.
• Improved software I2C support that now includes timeout when using software I2C Master.
• An IDE to make programming as easy as possible including Help and IDE Helpers.
• 450+ demonstration files that showcase the breadth and depth of capabilities.
• Support for a large set of supported hardware accessories. 
• New I2C2 drivers adding 2nd I2C support.
• GLCD handling with even more types of GLCD supported.
• New scalable fonts with added support for extended fonts sets.
• Increased support for microcontroller timers by supporting all the available microcontroller timers – this can be up to 12 separate timers.
• New support for HEFM memory.
• Handling the default Interrupt handlers.
• Full Linux version of the Great Cow BASIC Compiler and the toolchain
• New Windows installer for four different type of installation.
• Plus other new functionality and enhancements or fixes over the previous release.

 The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.  This release  is callled v0.95.006

• Added support for Linux distribution.

• All new Help File(s) with lots of changes and improvements. Support for HTML, Web, PDF, XML and many more.
• Hardware I2C has been improved by removed a delay from MSSPWAIT when the event had been correctly detected.
• Added optional Microchip PIC check to device during programming.
• Revised default USART port in the initialisation routines.
• Revised drivers for 18f13k22dat, 18f14k22dat and 18f14k22lindat chips.
• Corrected clock speeds supported by internal oscillator on 18Fxx20 and 18Fxx23 chips.
• Changed compiler install location detection to support Linux distribution.
• Updated library to provide warning when not HEFM is used on non HEFM microprocessors.
• Updated Pickit chip programming data file. See the Pickit folders for the many different .dat files.
• Changed compiler to allow for setting of individual OPTION_REG bits on 12-bit core PIC (10F2xx/12F5x/16F5x chips).
• Makehex batchfile Further enhanced to MakeHexbat to minimise testing of non archived files.
• Timer support improved to include supports for ChipFamily12 timers . 
• Timer support improved for huge list of AVR chips to support timer2 that use register TCCR2A. See release note for details.
• Fixed EEProm.h Fix to EEPROM routines for PIC microcontrollers with EEDATL register instead of EEDAT or EEDATA.
• Changed the compiler to support in compiler to handle 12F/16F PIC microcontrollers with more than 4 configuration words.

The Great Cow BASIC development team have published another release that further enhances the Great Cow BASIC compiler capabilities.

This release  is callled v0.95

• Over 100 changes, improvements and new functionality over the last release.
• Improved support for Microchip and Atmel 8-bit microprocessors with over 886 different processor types now supported.
• Further improvements within the IDE to make programming as easy as possible including improved user interface, Help and Helpers.
• A release of Great Cow Graphical BASIC User Interface that supports the review of the demonstration files and the new chip change configuration.
• Over 300 demonstration files that showcase the breadth and depth of Great Cow BASIC capabilities.
  • New vendor board examples including MicroChip boards
• Support for a large set of supported hardware accessories.
• New I2C2 and USART2 drivers
• GLCD handling with four more types of GLCD supported.
• New scalable fonts with added support for extended fonts sets.
• Increased support for microprocessor timers by supporting all the available microprocessor timers – this can be up to 7 separate timers.
• New support for HEFM memory and improved bitwise operations.
• Added ‘how to’ < >Create a Linux version of the Great Cow BASIC Compiler.Handling the default Interrupt handlers.
• Support for new Analog to Digital conversion.
• Improved PMW handling across a wider range of outputs and frequencies.
• Improved support for a wider range of programmers.
• And, lots more....  read the release notes or search the Help file.

A hot release of Great Cow BASIC called v0.94 included:

• A new release of GCB@SYN including Pickit driver set.
• A pre-release version of the new Great Cow Graphical BASIC User Interface that supports the review of the demonstration files and the new chip change configuration.
• Improved support for AVR.
• Improved Help File.
• ~160 demonstration files.
• Rationalization of the files provided in terms of documentation.
• A host of new functionality with ~90 enhancements or fixes. See the release note for the details. If your issue is not shown in the release note.... We have not got round to fixing it yet.
• Changes to memory management, tables and arrays
• A larger set of supported hardware via the include files.
• Improved LATx support. LATx is now in-built to the Microchip compiler.
• Improved LCD driver and LCD performance including two new I2C LCD drivers.
• We have improved GLCD handling with five types of GLCD supported, see the help file for Common Anode Support
• I2C and TWI hardware support for Microchip and AVR respectively.
• A host of commands!! Check out the Help File!

This release has over 100 demonstrations for Microchip and Atmel microprocessors.  These demonstrations, and more, will be provided as the baseline demonstration code for GCB and GCGB in the next release.   Please use the support forum, click here, to recommend improvements, corrections and get support for the demonstrations.  The release includes:

• 7 Segment LED Soutions
• EEPROM Logger Solutions
• The Eracer Solution (a collection of Eracer code)
• GLCD Solutions
• Interrupt Solutions
• LCD Solutions
• LED Solutions
• Light Meter Solutions
• Line Follower Solutions
• PWM Solutions
• Radio Solutions
• Railway Level Crossing Solutions
• Real Time Clock Solutions
• Serial Communications Solutions
• Servo Solutions
• Sound Solutions
• Temperature Sensor Solutions
• Traffic Lights Solutions
• UltraSonic Sensor Solutions