D48 & newer PIC 12fxxx parts

[Guest]

I have a d48, and have been quite pleased with it. Never found a part I couldn't program with it, until my latest project. The newer Flash based PIC's aren't supported,(namely 12f675) yet they are on the d48-xp and s4.
My d48 works great with windows XP-pro, on multiple machines., and I cannot justify the cost of upgrading the board inside my d48, if the only thing I can't program is Flash PIC's.. the cost of the upgrade is $300+ US, and a PIC programmer is less than $99 US.

Will an upgrade library be made available for the d48? the little S4 at nearly 1/2 the cost of the d48 programs the PIC12f series parts.

One gentleman inquired about In-Circuit programming for PIC's at the end of Feb.(jason, I believe?) However, if your PIC isn't supported in the first place, then how can you implement that method?
Seems to me, an elegant solution to the compatibility problems would be for Dataman to develop a ISP socket/cable solution that would plug into the d48., and a library update for the parts..
Either that, or make the XP upgrade board more affordable, and compelling for users to upgrade.
Mind you we've already made a $1295 investment, to insure we could program everything.

Does anyone else have this same situation?

[Guest]

Maybe there is a PIC with similar parameters that you can use to program the parts you need to?

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Dear Sir,

Im afraid that new libraries for the Dataman 48LV will only consist of bug fixes for any problems that may arise with devices that are already supported. Therefore to program the PIC 12F family you will need to upgrade to the Dataman 48XP.

The previous version of the Dataman 48LV stayed up to date for over 5 years , and the Dataman 48XP
will be bang up to date for at least another 5 years.

It is a simple one time upgrade that will allow this and it will also improve the performance of your exisiting programmer by up to 100%. This is really quite reasonable when you think how often you have to upgrade other computer equipment just to stay up to date.

Regarding using a PIC with similar parameters, the best place to search for such a device is the Parametric Search on our FREE online Chip Search.

Best regards,

Neil

[Guest]

Neil, What you're saying is Dataman no longer wants to support the d48, and is forcing their customers to upgrade to d48xp if they want to continue getting device updates?

Many years ago when the D48 came out, the compeling reason to buy it was that it would program anything. Dataman's motto(at the time) was 'free updates for life'
Your d48xp upgrade program shows that this is no longer the policy, and dataman just wants recurring revenues from it's loyal customers.

You say "..a simple one time upgrade", actually, this is 'an every 5 years' upgrade. If I paid $1300 for this 5 yrs ago., that's a cost of $260 per year to program parts. then $325 for the upgrade board, the total cost is $1625.
It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that for $325+ per year, you can buy a new (mid range) programmer every other year, and stay more up to date than you would by buying a d48 in the first place.

[Guest]

This chip should be supported! I looked up pic12f675 on the device database, and it says its progammable with the s4 and the dataman48.

[Guest]

Maybe Dataman should release information about their part libraries, so people can add chips by programming specs into a library?

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Hi again,

The chip is supported on the Dataman 48 family of programmers of which there are in fact three (Dataman 48, Dataman 48LV and Dataman 48XP). However to program it you need to have the latest version of the hardware, the Dataman 48XP.

Having to stay up to date with your equipment is a fact of life in the electronics and computing world, if there was any other solution to this issue then we would have taken it.

Regards,

Neil