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HCS12: MiniDRAGON+ Development Board

*****  New rev D board is available now.  The above picture is a rev C board *****

The new rev D board replaces all solder pads beneath the breadboard with footprints for an RF transceiver, a DS1302 Real Time Clock with battery backup, a DS1620 Digital Thermometer and Thermostat, a 12V DPDT relay and a L293D motor driver. The components for above circuits are not included in the price. We provide schematic diagrams, but do not carry the parts for the circuits. We will provide a kit for each circuit in the near future.

The new rev D board also provides LCD connection and keypad interface. This feature will make the new  MiniDRAGON+ bard a complete low cost trainer as well.

Example applications:

• Complete stand-alone HCS12 development board
• Micro trainer for students
• Advanced Robot controller
• Possible replacement of Handyboard designed by MIT Fred Martin
• Possible replacement of  Botboard+, Boardboatdplus designed by Marvin Green, Kevin Ross and Karl Lunt
• BDM pod for debugging and programming another development board
• Core module for OEM application

MiniDRAGON+ features:

• RJ11 handset jack and 6-foot light weight RS232 cable for connecting the 1st SCI to a PC com port
• 110V AC adapter to power the board (US and Canada orders only)
• CD with example programs in source code
• 16 MHz crystal, 8 MHz default bus speed and up to 25MHz bus speed via PLL
• LED operating mode indication (E,J,P,B) on the 7-segment display during power-up, no need to remember jumper setting
• 3 digit diagnostic code on the 7-segment LED during power up to aid troubleshooting
• On-board BDM-in connector to be connected with a BDM from multiple venders for debugging
• On-board BDM-out connector with a 6-in BDM cable (included in price) to convert this board into a 9S12 BDM or a 9S12 programmer. No extra hardware needed.
• CAN controller, RS485 and RS232 interface chips are surface mounted on the solder side of PCB
• 7-segment LED display
• A 2-position DIP switch equivalent jumper for auto-starting four different user application programs in the 256K flash memory
• 2 pushbutton switches
• 38KHz IR receiver
• Speaker for alarm and music applications
• Potentiometer trimmer pot for analog input
• Reset and program abort buttons
• Low Voltage Inhibit reset circuit
• Small prototyping wire wrap area
• 912DP256 MCU includes the following onchip peripherals:
  • 3 SPIs
  • 2 SCIs
  • 3 CANs
  • I²C interface
  • 8 16-bit timers
  • 8 PWMs
  • 16-channel 10-bit A/D converter
• All MC9S12DP256 pins are accessible on four header connectors and different header configurations available. The header connectors can be male or female, and can be placed on the top or the bottom of PCB
• 112 Pins, up to 89 I/O-Pins
• Header connector of 2nd SCI for user's application
• 5V 1A low dropout voltage regulator, heavy duty TO220 package
• DC jack for AC adapter or DC header connector for battery in robot application
• 112 pin male headers or female receptacles for all MCU pins
• User Programmable Header for customizing your own interface to your external circuits
• Compatible with Motorola EVB9S12DP256 board
• Like Motorola EVB, supports C and Assembly language source level debugging under Code Warrior
• Can support any C compilers and Debuggers
• Program in C, BASIC, Forth and Assembly language
• Single chip mode and expanded mode
• Four operating modes: EVB, Jump-to-EEPROM, POD and Boot loader
• Header connectors for RS485 interface and CAN controller
• Many fully debugged, fairly complex 68HC12 program examples including source code, not just a "Hello World" type simple program
• Includes a test program that reads 4 switches to show their functions on the LED display while playing a song, it shows a number counting-up or counting-down, counting fast or counting slow on the 7-segment LED display, and also allows to change 7-segment LED brightness by adjusting the trimmer pot at the same time
• Super low cost and high performance
• Super fast, bus speed up to 25 MHz
• Small PC board size 2.2" X 3.2" fits into a small robot

There are two other compact development boards on the market now. One is the HCS12 T-board from Germany and another one is the Adapt9s12DP256 of Technological Arts from Canada.

They look like high quality boards and each of them has own unique features, but our board will give you another choice if your budget is small. All three boards have the same MCU, the same 16 MHz crystal, basically the same hardware circuits and use the same Motorola's D-bug12 monitor, so all software can run on these boards with the same results. Whoever has a more efficient way to manufacture the board will be able to offer a better price. Fortunately Wytec has been in business since 1987 and we can produce the board at the lowest cost possible.

For a commodity product to survive, our cost is very important, but it does not mean we will sacrifice the quality. Our mission is to make quality products at low cost and the quality is still our number one concern. For instance, on this board design, there are two components that we did not compromise for low cost.

1. The regular RS232 DB9 cable is too bulky and too stiff for our 68HC12 MiniDRAGON+^TM. You move the DB9 cable a little bit, it moves your whole prototype chaotically. When debugging your robot application, a light weight cable can be moved by your little robot, but the regular DB9 cable can't. We pay more for a 6-foot light weight cable. Only with the light weight RS232 cable, our board can be considered as a true compact development board.
2. You can easily make a 10-pin ribbon cable for the BDM cable, because you can find a 10-pin IDC connector everywhere from Digi-Key to Mouser Electronics, but not a 6-pin IDC connector. We prefer a 6-pin ribbon cable which costs more, but it does make the product more compact..

We sell our products by "word-of-mouth" referrals. Our customers are our best salespersons. We have quite a few good comments from our customers about our boards. Some would say that they would check our web site first when buy any boards in the future. Some would praise our tech support. Some would express their excitement, such as Hey, this thing is awesome, I love it! Wow, you put that much on it! But the best comments to make us happy are always from the users who said they got more from our boards than what they paid for.

The VR1 is a trimmer pot for the analog input AN07. 

We sold out the original MiniDRAGON board and replace it with the MiniDRAGON+ board which adds a solderless breadboard on the bottom and a 40 pin user programmable header on the top, but if you break off these two sections and the middle section becomes the original MiniDRAGON board. In order to remain the $99.00 selling price, the RS485 and CAN interface IC chips are sold as options. They are not included in the MiniDRAGON+ package.

In order to make the PC board smaller, the RS232 interface, RS485 interface and CAN interface circuits are laid out on the solder side of the board. The board is small, but we still managed to include quite a bit of peripheral functions on it and you can create quite a bit of application programs without any extra hardware.

The price of the MiniDRAGON+ for students, robot hobbyists and schools is $99.00 after a $20.00 discount.

This is the first product that we provide a discount not only for students, but also for hobbyists as well. If you are a business, you should understand that the $119.00 is still a better value comparing to other boards on the market today. The $99.00 is not much above our cost, when you pay $119.00 you actually support us to provide the discount for the educational purpose, a very good cause.

For students and school classrooms, the MiniDRAGON+/FH is highly recommended, because it provides four 14x2 female headers surrounding the MCU for an easy access to all MCU's I/O pins. Together with the solderless breadboard, it's a complete prototype system for learning 68HCS12 programming or working on your lab assignments. For only $99.00, you will be able to get your hands-on experience on the new Motorola's most advanced 16 bit microcontroller.

Many of our customers asked the same questions before purchasing: What C compilers and debuggers would work with the MiniDRAGON+?

The answer is that the MiniDRAGON+ will work with any software tools and any BDMs, because the bootloader and the D-bug12 are written and supplied by Motorola. If your software tools work with the Motorola EVB and other EVBs, it will work with the MiniDRAGON+. If you are use a BDM, such as P&E Microsystems' Multi-Link or cable12, your BDM directly interfaces to the on-chip hardware of the HCS12, all EVBs are 100% identical even they have different monitor firmware programs in the on-chip flash memory.

The price includes a light weight RS232 cable, a 6-pin BDM cable, a CD and a 110V AC adapter (US and Canada only)