The PIC18 Starter Kit functions as a USB mouse, joystick or mass storage device all using the on-board capacitive touch sense pads. It includes a MicroSD™ memory card, potentiometer, acceleration sensor, and OLED display. With on-board debugger and programming, and USB power, the starter kit is a low-cost way to get started with the PIC18 family.

This board features the PIC18F46J50 MCU with 64KB Flash, 4KB RAM, XLP low power, mTouch touch sensing and USB. The MCU is running Microchip’s FREE USB bootloader and software framework. The starter kit source code and other resources are included in the MCHPFSUSB Framework, which can be downloaded from Microchip Application Libraries.

To learn more about the features and operation, view a tutorial on MPLAB^® Starter Kit for PIC18F MCUs.

Or watch a WebSeminar about the PIC18 Starter Kit.

Additional Demo Code is now available. Download the PIC18 Starter Kit Demo contest code below.

PR Glassel and Associates

The demo-application uses the 3-axis accelerometer on the Starter Kit board to act as a real-time 2-axis level. The OLED display shows a bubble that “floats” as you tilt the board, simulating a traditional spirit level.  Internally, the demo has examples of digital filtering using integer arithmetic, adding a device interface for the OLED display controller, and how to draw a circle on the display.   There is also an analysis of expected performance of the level with rationale behind the digital filtering techniques used.

MB Turnkey Design, LLC

Designer Daniel Szot from MB Turnkey Design created this demo which mimics the old Labyrinth board game where you have to get a marble from one side of a maze to the other without falling through holes.  This demo uses the accelerometer as the player tilts the demo board to direct the virtual marble to the goal through various levels.  The ball and maze have physics applied to them to give them real feeling movement (bouncing off of walls, acceleration and deceleration, etc).  The capacitive buttons are used to make menu selections inside of the game.  

Tibor Kiss

The Real Time Clock/Calendar (RTCC) module is demonstrated in this example.  The time and date of the clock can be set and you can view the time as either a digital output or like an analog clock.  The user can also set an alarm that uses the alarm features of the RTCC to notify the user when the alarm is reached.  The time information can also be obtained through the USB interface.  The demo appears to the computer like a serial/COM port where the user can query for the time.