PIC Programming with stm32f4

[Montassar Ghanmy]

Hi there , I'll be asking quiet an odd question but is it possible to program a PIC Microcontroller using an ST link or stm32f4 discovery board in general ??
If this has been asked before or was a blog post about this anyway please let me know.
Many thankx !!

 

[Kurenai_ryu]

wow, that's a really interesting question...

is it possible?
yes it is!

did somebody did it?
sadly I doubt so. (and your google fu should be enough)

how can you do it?
at first look only for a specific PIC chip, almost every pic is programmed with slight differences so it's hard to start to aim a general PIC programmer
then look for that specific PIC the Programming Specifications pdf (like this one for a simple pic16f877a
ah! also take a look at the ICSP guide but the Prog.spec doc is more important...

with this you need to:

probably make a level translator (bidirectional for RB7) if your PIC is 5V and your ST link is 3.3v
make a switchable Vpp controller (so you can change the RST/VPP pin from 0v to 5v to 13v [or the specific voltages for your pic]
bitbang on RB7 and RB6 the commands to identify, initiate and the basic erase write verify(read)
all of this with some custom software on the PC side...

it's a lot of pain, but you can do it with enough time...


in other words, doable, but probably not already done...

 

[Montassar Ghanmy]

Aha, I see . Well explained thank you. Indeed I think it will be a big head ache if to be done from zero.

 

[Aussie Susan]

It *might* be a little easier if you select the appropriate PIC. Having said that, I have no experience in this and I'm working on little information.
However, the ST-Link is supposed to work with JTAG interfaces and some of the PIC devices can be programmed through their JTAG (note: I seem to recall that some have a JTAG interface but they cannot use that for programming).
Therefore at a hardware level you *might* be able to do this. JTAG *should* be standard between devices (but this is probably not guaranteed) and you may be in luck at the software level if you have a suitable software to drive the hardware.
By far the best way is to get something like a PicKit3 programmer and debugger and use the ICSP interface. These devices are not that expensive but at something like $40 they could be out of reach of students. On the other hand you buy one and can then use it for nearly every past and future MCU form Microchip.
Susan