Matrix user forums

I do like the ECIO boards however a very negative point is that once you programmed the ECIO with a 3rd party tool you can not recover the board back to the Boot loader state .
as no boot loader hex are available or delivered with the board.

I would expect at least to have the boot loader hex file to go back to the original Matrix delivery state if i need to do so sending the ECIO back to MATRIX to program the boot loader at a price is no solution

Companies such as MikroElectronika have similar boards to the ECIO and the boot loader is supplied (user can go back to boot loader at any point he wishes ) these boards are available for PIC18,dsPIC,, PIC32 and ARM

This issue makes me hesitant to use the ECIO boards .If MATRIX wants to protect their IP on the boot loader i respect that however supply the Hex file that we have the freedom of decision what we do with the board


Best Regards

Peter

Hello Peter,

My question is why would you program the ECIO with a 3rd party tool when the bootloader is available to you? Also if you have the third party tool and want to use this then why would you need the bootloader back?

The problem with releasing firmware is that before you know it China is making cheap knock off's and you no longer have a business model. e.g. Arduino.

Benj

I understand your point ,but only the hex file will that really be a problem?
I can tell you why I would like to program with a 3rd party tool in many cases when we do development we use MPLABx and the C compilers to create complex algorithms and with the MPLAX IDE and ICD or PICKIT3 we can do debugging
as you know which is not possible with FC and the boot loader ,then after such a development I possibly would do something in FC and would like to boot load again it all depends on the customer projects I have.
I do not only work with FC I use MPLABx for motor control and other projects I also use Code composer from TI it all depends on my customer and the complexity of the project .

It not a problem I possibly should get a few ECIO boards and use some for MPLABX and some for FC

Have good time
Peter

Hi Peter,

I've sent you a PM containing the .hex file for the bootloader in the understanding you do not share it.

Thanks for your understanding.