History of versions
  • 0.3 First public version (2003)
  • 0.3.1 Add internationalization support in source code, cleaner tarball, better installation process (the .xml kate syntaxfile is now automatically installed), bug fix.
  • 0.3.2 Improved installation, improved programmer widget.
  • 0.3.3 Since KDE 3.1.0, Kate uses the "katepart" directory (instead of the "kate" one to store syntaxfiles (.xml). Installation procedure has been modified accordingly.
  • 0.3.4 Bug Fix in configuration widgets. Include path for gpasm can now be relative to the source path. Parallel ports are now automatically probed. Configuration widgets are now documented by tooltips. The asm configuration widget now explicitly signals devices supported by the PiKdev programmer.
  • 0.4 Asm configuration widget now allows to use parameters specified in source code by a LIST or PROCESSOR directive (No need to reconfigure when you assemble files for different target devices).
    Add support for 16F870, 16F871, 16F872, 16F873, 16F874. Support for 16F876 is now tested (but other devices of the same family are not, feedbacks about these devices are welcome).
    Support for 18Fxxx devices now exists. The concerned devices are 18F242 , 18F248, 18F442, 18F448, 18F252, 18F258, 18F452, 18F458. Thanks to Manwlis Giannos (mgiannos2000@yahoo.gr) who wrote the programming code. This support is tested for 18F452 device. As usual, send feedback to alain.gibaud@free.fr.
  • 0.4.1 Timing bug fix in 18F support. Verification of programmed devices is now also implemented for 18Fxxx. "Must be 0" or "must be 1" bits in CONFIG registers are now automatically forced to the correct value. This feature prevents spurious error messages during verifications.
    The hardware configuration widget now allows you to test your configuration. Just click on the desired checkbox, and verify the voltage with a multimeter on the device pins. You can also continuously send data to the interface and verify with an oscilloscope
  • 0.4.2 Support for 18F1220, 18F1320, 18F2220, 18F2320, 18F4220 and 18F4320 devices.
  • 0.4.3 Bug fix in the hardware configuration widget (permuted checkboxes) Important
    The programming engine of PiKdev now comes with a non graphical user interface. This programm is named pkp (PiK Programmer) and is intended for use by people who do no use KDE or are not able to compile PiKdev because they have an old Linux distribution. pkp has a simple command line interface and have exactly the same programming capabilities as PiKdev, on the same devices. For lazy people, a pre-compiled version of pkp is available in the pikdev-[VERSION] directory which sould work with recent gcc 3.2 based distributions. Please see the installation section for details about compilation of pkp. (No KDE or Qt libraries needed). Compilation with pre-3.0 gcc compiler is possible but may raise problems with namespaces. Please report such problems, I will modify the code to make it more nonstandard-C++ tolerant.
  • 0.4.4 New devices supported :16F873A, 16F874A, 16F876A, 16F877A. Gerardo (gpuga@gioia.ing.unlp.edu.ar) sent me a patch to process command line, so PiKdev can now be lauched by a click on an .asm or .hex file.
  • 0.5 This is a "major" release
    New devices supported :12F675, 12F629 (tested).
    Word editors in the programming widget have been modified to behave in a more natural way: typed values are automatically validated when you leave the widget and you are not obliged anymore to hit the return key.
    I now provide a RPM version of PiKdev because some people had problems compiling and installing it. This RPM has been tested for Mandrake 9.1 and RedHat 9.0 distributions.
    PiKdev now supports projects and uses relocatable mode with gpasm/gplink. Projects can be managed from popup menus in the project widget, or by a traditionnal menu/toolbar way. The following project-relative functionnalities have been added:
    • Create Project
    • Open Project
    • Open Recent Project
    • Edit Project
    • Close Project
    • Add file (source, object or library) to Project
    • Add current source file to Project
    • Remove file from Project
    The old absolute mode (all the code is located in only one file) is still available and is selected when there is no open project.
    Project is assembled/linked with only one click, and assembly occurs only if object file is not up to date. Provisions for compilation of "high level" languages (C, JAL, GPAL, other) already exists in the code.
  • 0.6 Another "important" release
    Serial (JDM like) programmers are now supported. I added this support because this type of programmer is very popular. Moreover, you can use an USB to serial adapter on machines without serial port. PiKdev theoritically autodetects this kind of ports, but this feature is not tested because I do not have such an adapter. Here is some informations about the hardware I use.
    As a consequence, the programmer configuration widget has been revamped and now allows choice of a "standard" board in a predefined list.
    This list is currently reduced to 3 items but is intended to grow : please send me feedbacks about the programmer you use, with its configuration (schematics are welcome). A button allows you to save your own pins configuration.
    PiKdev maintains a separate configuration for parallel and serial ports so you can change from one to other with a simple click, whithout reconfiguring pins. Pins selection has been improved : only relevant pins are proposed and combo boxes now contain pin names (and not only pin numbers). Port can be dynamically selected, so you can simultaneously use different programmers on different ports.

    An "open recent file" function has been added to the "file" menu.

    Device autodetection is now implemented (for devices supporting device ID). The programming widget systematically tests the detected type against the current type and report mismatches.
  • 0.6.1
    New devices supported  :16F630, 16F676 (thanks to Sean A. Walberg).

    Command line parsing has been improved and now supports project files. As a consequence, PiKdev can be run just by clicking project files.

    A project can be opened by dragging project files from Konqueror to project widget (A previously opened project is closed). A file can be added to an opened project by the same way.

    One can create several projects in the same directory. This is useful in the case of already existing directory trees.

    Include (ie: .inc) files can now be inserted into projects. They are not assembled but they are part of project, so they appear in the project widget and can be edited.

    Editor now includes an "autowrap lines" features (F12), as Kate does. Useful for long comment lines.

    Native DOS source files are automatically recognized (they use CR-LF instead of LF), and are saved with their original end of lines. EOL status of any editor buffer can be changed at any moment. This feature allows to work in a mixed-OS environment.

    Many minor improvements, bug fixes or security checks.
  • 0.6.2
    Bug fix: an horrible uninitialized pointer randomly prevented project management from working properly. I strongly encourage users of version 0.6.1 to install version 0.6.2 because this bug can crash PiKdev. Thanks to Mike Rothon for the bug report.

    New devices supported  : p16c61 p16c62 p16c620 p16c620a p16c621 p16c621a p16c622 p16c622a p16c62a p16c62b p16c63 p16c63a p16c64 p16c64a p16c65 p16c65 p16c65a p16c65b p16c71 p16c710 p16c711 p16c716 p16c72 p16c72a p16c73 p16c73a p16c73b p16c74 p16c74 p16c745 p16c74a p16c74b p16c76 p16c765 p16c77 p16c773 p16c774 p16c923 p16c924 p16cr62
    (CAUTION: 16C745 and 16C765 have been successfully tested, but other devices of this serie are not. Testers are welcome.)

    Programmer timings have been changed to cope with some programming cards. Thanks to Don Kessler who pointed out these problems and tested fixes. However, it seems that problems remain with P16PRO40 programmers and 18Fxxx chips.

    New standard pin configurations have been added.

  • 0.6.3
    New devices: 16F818/16F819 (tested) 16F87/16F88 (NOT tested). Please report your experiences with these devices.
    New timings and clock rates : Some device/programmer couples (especially with 18F devices) cause problems with PiKdev. This version has been reported to fix problems mentionned with version 0.6.2.

  • 0.6.4
    New devices: 16F627A, 16F628A, 16F648A. (Tested)
    Better support for missing/misconfigured ports : The programmer configuration widget does not crash anymore when a port is missing, and PiKdev gives better warning messages.
    Disassembler (gpdasm) support : Allows to disassemble an existing hex file. Assembler configuration widget has been extended to support disassembler configuration.
    Editor upgrade : Adding "Find next" and "Find previous" functionnalities.
    Editor upgrade : Adding "Print file" functionnality.

  • 0.6.5
    New devices: 16F73/74/76/77 : Thank you to Keith Baker who wrote these two classes.
    Support for programmers with data direction control line : Thank you to Mirko Panciri who wrote this support (mainly for Asix Picolo programmers).
    Minor bug fixes.
    More standard programmer configurations..

  • 0.6.5c
    Bug fix: A already fixed bug that caused crash in programmer configuration box reappeared because of bad integration of Mirko's work. Refixed now.
    Bug fix: Pin polarity management for serial port programmer was totally missing, and prevented non JDM serial programmer from working.

  • 0.6.6
    Cosmetic:The programmer configuration widget has been modified because some users was confused by the "standard cards" combobox.
    Installation: Old user-infertace files (.rc) are now deleted when a new version is installed, so interface changes are now immediatly visible.
    Installation: RPM Conflict with recent KDE distributions about file "picsrc.xml" file has been removed.
    Editor: Editor is now fully configurable (fonts, colors, etc..)
    Syntax HL: A new syntax hightlight file is provided with full support for PIC18 instructions and recent gpasm directives.
    Programming widget: has been revamped for users with low-res screen.
    CAUTION: PiKdev segfault on exit with recent KDE distributions. This does not prevent you from using it, but is clearly the result of a bug. Unfortunatly, I cannot reproduce this error on my machine for the moment. A fixed version will be released as soon as possible. Suggestions are welcome.

  • 0.6.6a
    Bug Fix: SegFault at exit with recent KDE distributions is now fixed.

  • 0.7.0
    This is the first version for Mdk 10.0 (and KDE >3.1). Backward source compatibility with KDE 3.1 has been tested. Precompiled binaries are NOT KDE 3.1 compatible.
    Syntax HL: Because several syntax files provided with recent KDE versions address .asm files, I had to force the "good" syntax scheme (XPicAsm) from PiKdev. Before this fix, pic asm files was edited with Rockwell's 6502 microprocessor editing scheme :-(.
    KDE >3.1: Various modifications to cope with KDE API changes.
    Session management: Window size, Iconbar settings are now restored. Previously opened files and project are also re-open when you run PiKdev.
    External tool: JAVIER FERNANDO VARGAS G (fernandovargas@cable.net.co) sent me PiKloops, a little utility which generates code for timing loops. I partially rewrote the GUI (drag and drop support) to make it easily usable with PiKdev. PiKloops can be launched from PiKdev, and generated code can be dragged to PiKdev editors. Very easy to use, feedbacks are welcome.
    PiKloops is available on my download page, with Javier's authorization.

  • 0.7.1
    Internationalization : Thanks to JAVIER FERNANDO VARGAS G, PiKdev GUI is now translated to spanish. I also translated it to french, so PiKdev now speaks three languages. People insterested by doing translation to another language are invited to contact me.
    PiKdev mailing list : A mailing-list is now open to connect members of the pikdev users community. Please see contact page for details.


  • 0.7.2
    Internationalization : Thanks to Andre Lohan, PiKdev GUI is now translated to german. Available languages are english, spanish, french, german. Translators for other languages are welcome, just drop me a mail.
    New devices : The following new devices are now supported. 16F688, 16F684, 12F683, 16F636, 12F635.
    Programmation widget and pic base class : Improved for better support of devices with calibration words mapped in program or configuration memory.
    User interface : Configuration widgets are now part of a config center. This config center defines a framework to allow integration of (future) configuration widgets dedicated to other programming languages.

  • 0.8.0
    New devices : The following new devices are now supported: 18F2550, 18F4550, 18F2455, 18F4455
    Syntax highlight : Improved for better support of .slb source library and support for SFRs coloring.
    C language support : A first support for C development is available. It has been designed for supporting cpik, my new C compiler for 18F devices. With C projects, only one click is sufficient to compile, link and assemble an application.
    Feedbacks are welcome.

  • 0.8.1
    Bug fix : Support for 18Fxxx and 18FXX20 was broken since version 0.8.0. Fixed now.

  • 0.8.2
    Bug fix : Loading .hex files was broken in a very rare situation. This is now fixed.
    New devices : 16f685, 16f687, 16f689, 16f690 are now supported.
    User interface : Several users was confused by the availability of two distinct configuration widgets (in project mode and single-file mode). Depending on current mode, inappropriate widget is now locked, so there is no room for being confused.
    .lnk files support : One can now include a .lnk (linker script) file into project: in this case, this file replaces the standard one.
    Automatic indentation : PiKdev editor now provides automatic indentation of C source files. (CTRL-I). This features needs the (excellent) astyle program to be available in your system.

  • 0.8.4
    Partial rewrite of internal programmer driver integration framework : This rewrite is intended to prepare support for external programmers. The development of new device drivers have been simplified and is more generic: one can now write less code to support more devices.
    New devices : Due to rewrite of driver integration framework, many new devices are now supported. please consult the exact list here. This list contains up to 158 device references, so I am not able to test all this stuff. All the devices support I have tested work, but I can't offer any guarantee about the others. I ask pikdev users to systematically report their experiences, so I will be able to maintain a list of really tested devices on this site.
    User interface: Improved programmer widget : The programmer widget now display a progress bar and user interface is no longer freezed during long programming operations. Moreover, the config bits configuration widget now displays tooltips documenting each bit of the config registers. This feature was technically already here, but supported by a limited range of drivers. It is now usable with all devices and is very handy.
    pkp revamped : pkp, the stand alone programmer build onto PiKdev programming engine now supports a complete command line mode. Old interactive mode is still available when one run pkp without any argument. Remember that pkp doesn't need neither Qt nor KDE to work.
  • 0.9.1
    Support for PicKit2 programmer from Microchip. : PicKit2 is supported trough Jeff Post's pk2 programming software. Access to pk2 is totally transparent for PiKdev users. Experimentation board from Microchip can directly be powered on/off from programming dialog. This support needs pk2 version 1.36 or newer. Thanks to Jeff for his collaboration.
    Support for pkp as external programming tool : This support seems strange because it doesn't add any functionnality to PiKdev, because pkp and PiKdev share the same programming engine. In fact, pkp is supported as a demonstrator of "how to support an external programming tool". Programming tool authors who wish to have their software supported by PiKdev can look at pkp support to evaluate PiKdev requirements.
  • 0.9.1-4
    pkp build is automatic : pkp is now part of pikdev build, but the previous Makefile.pkp is still distributed: people who don't want to use KDE can build it separatly.
    italian translation is up-to-date Thanks to Michele Petrecca.
    some installation issues fixed
  • 0.9.2-1
    Minor fixes : Support for 18F2420/30 and more was broken, due to errors in Microchip device files.
  • 1.0.0 (2008-12)
    pk2cmd based support of picKit2 USB programmer : This support is based on modified version of the Microchip pk2cmd tool and allows to program many new devices which was not previously supported.
  • 1.1.0 (2009-1)
    pk2cmd and pikdev are now compatible : pk2cmd (the command line tool provided by Microchip for Pic Kit2 programmer) and pikdev have been both modified to become compatible. It means that every ehancement of the pk2cmd tool (new device support for example) will be immediately available under pikdev.
  • 1.2.0 (2009-7)
    New support A new 10F device is supported by the buit-in programmer
    Netbooks support : Large dialog has been modified to be usable with machines equiped with a small screen (netbooks)
    New support for C users (cpik compiler) : The project widget now allows a one click access to any function, variable or typedef in a project. For this feature, the source code is continuously parsed during edition. This feature also works for ".slb" (sources libraries) files, so any entry point in a source library can be reached. Really very handy when a project becomes important.
  • 1.2.1 (2009-9)
    Bug fix C parser caused an editor freeze, when a syntax error was located at the very end of a source file
    Totally new config bits editor : This very handy dialog allows you to choose the config bits needed by your application. This dialog generates two files: config_bits.h and a config_bits.asm. You just have to include one of these files in your application, depending on the language you use. Alternatively, you can drag the generated source code to the editor. CONFIG bits status is part of the project configuration.
  • 1.4.0 (2013-2)
    PiKdev 1.4.0 is PikDev for Qt 4 This is the first version of PiKdev not based on KDE libs. This version is easier to maintain than the previous ones. It is functionnaly equivalent but offers new features.
    Updated config bits editor : it supports the CONFIG syntax that is specific to PIC18 devices. This feature is also supported by cpik 0.7.2. A new config bits description scheme has been implemented for this purpose.
    Integrated browser for HTML documentation coming with gputils 1.0.0 : This documentation is automatically generated from various sources from Microchip and provides many valuable information about ALL PIC devices currently available.
  •  
  • 1.5.0 (2022-12)
    PiKdev 1.5.0 is PikDev for Qt 5
    Qt5 and C++20 support (The conversion from C++03 idiom to C++20 idiom is however still in progress.)
    Improved browser for HTML documentation : This browser is now fully reconfigurable and provides a tabbed interface to browse local or remote HTML documents. It will be extended to PDF documents in the Qt6 version.
    Improved "Open Recent" (file or project) menus. : The menus entries can now be removed with a single click action.