dsPic C Compiler?

[E_Hobbyist]

The December Design Cycle article on the dsPic by Peter Best is very interesting and I went to the Hi-Tech Software site to look into the C Compiler for the dsPIC. It is priced at $1150!! That is a bit out of my range and I wonder if anyone here has any recommendations?
Thanks!
-E_Hob

[Mike6158]

I found these guys and their compiler looks pretty good to me (not that that counts for anything. I have ZERO experience with C). <p>The Byte Factory<p>but they only take PayPal and that won't work for me. The price looks real good compared to HiTech and their software is Windows based. I wasn't looking for the dsPIC specifically so you may have to shoot them an email to see if they support it. BTW- Because of the PayPal issue I did not buy their software package so I can't speak to it's worth.<p>Download the demo version of the HiTech software for dsPIC... If it's like PICC or PICCLite it runs in a DOS window. I can't belive that anyone would charge what they do for a DOS program. The first and only program that I tried to write using PICC (demo version)or PICCLite gave me a compiler error and instructions to contact HiTech tech support... The code came right out of a N&V article and it was written for the HiTech compiler. Between that and the DOS window that was the end for me.

[hp]

The Byte Factory's compilers are actually CCS's C compilers. You can buy the compilers directly from CCS at http://www.ccsinfo.com/ccscorder.shtml. The major problem with the CCS C compilers is that they regularly release bad and unstable versions. Luckily they give you a period of time to download free updates (try to download all of the versions just in case you need to go back to an older version).<p>As for the dsPIC support: The CCS C compilers currently do not support the dsPIC line.<p>Note about hi-tech C: I tried their trial version a while back and found that it stunk because of its dos interface and because it does not allow trial versions to use the build in software and uart serial commands.<p>Harrison<p>[ December 28, 2004: Message edited by: hp ]</p>

[bodgy]

Forest Electronics (FORED C) are supposed to be bringing out a dsPic version sometime early next year.<p>If you just need the structured programming idea from 'C' (that's an oxymoron isn't it?) have a look at Basic30 a structured basic for the dsPics. It is only in Beta at the moment.<p>www.midwest-software.com<p>Colin