Editing Programming Tips

''Note: This is actually a "getting started with the professional method" guide.''

There are easier ways to program your robot controller, including Easy C (new for 2006), however, I am far more familiar with the classic, more complicated method using MPLab IDE. This perhaps more complicated system is the one which I desribe below, but do consider that there are other options and other tutorials available on the web. Of course, I suggest the following method. -[[User:Admin|Pierce Lopez]]

== Collecting Your Tools ==
The system I use requires the use of a few different tools which work together (more or less). Here's what you'll need:

*'''A Laptop running Windows''' A laptop will make connecting to the robot immeasurably easier and more convenient, and most tools I use are only available for windows, and have no counterparts for other OSs (unfortunately).
*'''... with a serial port.''' You're laptop might already have one, it's like a rounded-corner trapeziod with two rows of pin-holes. My newer laptop does not have one, so I got a usb-serial adapter cable for $40 at RadioShack.
*'''MPLAB IDE v7.20''' Newer versions don't work, according to the source code documentation. Download this version [http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en023073 here].
*'''MPLAB C18 Compiler Student Edition v2.40''' Newer versions of this will apparently not work either, and this older version is pretty difficult to find online. I found a download link for it [http://www.acfr.usyd.edu.au/teaching/3rd-year/mtrx3700-Mx3/reference/tools/C18/c18_240_SE.zip here]. If that link doesn't still work, search for it.
*'''IFI_Loader v1.0.12''' Can be found at the bottom of [http://www.ifirobotics.com/rc.shtml this] page. But don't get the robot default code from there, if you intend to use the camera with your robot, as we will in this guide.
*'''The Default Robot+Camera Code''' Download "frc_camera.zip", the "bells-and-whistles version", from [http://kevin.org/frc/ this] page.
*'''CMUcam2_workbook.pdf''' This document contains very useful diagrams and specific sets of instructions which I'll reference, get it on the [http://kevin.org/frc/ same page] as the robot code.
*'''puTTY''' For later, when we're sending adjustment commands to the camera. You just need "putty.exe", get it [http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html here].
*'''COM/Telnet Bridge''' For use with puTTY, get the "tsb.exe" package from [http://www.elifulkerson.com/projects/telnet-serial-bridge.php this] page.

== Getting it all set up ==
That was a lot of stuff to download, now let's get it set up.

#'''Install MPLAB IDE''': Extract the files from the zip file you downloaded into a folder, and run "MPLAB v270 Install". You don't need to install support for any fancy debuggers or devices which are mentioned, we just need the basic program.
#'''Install MPLAB C18''': Extract the installer from the zip file you downloaded and run it. During the install process, select the option which register the C18 compiler and linker with MPLAB IDE, but you don't need to select the options which "Add the compiler/linker/etc. to the system path."
#'''Install IFI_Loader''': Extract the folder from the zip file, and run "setup.exe".
#'''Unzip the code''': You need to put the folder which contains the code close to the root of your drive; in simpler terms, just extract the frc_camera folder from frc_camera.zip right to your C: drive, so the files it contains are in C:\\frc_camera\\(files here). You need to do this because the C18 compiler simply can't handle a long directory name.

''in progress''