This is a Microchip PIC32 ICSP (in circuit serial programmer) for STM32 micro-controllers. Mork allows an STM32 to program the flash on a PIC32.

Mork is adaptation of Nanu nanu Microchip PIC ICSP for the STM32 based vcc-gnd or Maple mini (the stm32 F4 discovery is also supported in the build but not documented here).

Both STM32 boards are inexpensive boards which don't cost much more than the Nano 3.0 yet they are far more powerful.

One complication though for the vcc-gnd, is that it comes with a serial boot loader which is not accessible via its USB port. This means that another device is required to program the vcc-gnd which can be an STLink compatible device or, if using a 3V3 UART, STM32Flash.

The vcc-gnd page shows both examples of programming the board.

The Maple mini comes with a USB boot loader which is compatible with dfu-util. This doesn't need any other hardware and is an easier option for running this application than the vcc-gnd.

Mork is licensed under same terms as Pickle Microchip PIC ICSP which is the source of the software used to create this project. The Pickle LICENCE is found here. This licence details the rights and liabilities of using the application and it should be especially understood that I, the author, will not accept any responsibility for any side effects of running it. Do not download and use this firmware unless you are willing to accept the consequences of it failing for any reason.

This software was written by Darron M Broad and is an adaptation of Pickle Microchip PIC ICSP.

Thanks go to the libopencm3 developers for providing this library. This is used for a number of functions but most importantly, the USB driver.

Mork utilises OpenCM3 and this must be installed first. Installation of this will require gccarm and Mork depends on that also.

When prepared we can fetch and build Mork.

hg clone http://hg.kewl.org/pub/Mork
cd Mork
make

Now we can install the firmware. In this example I am using STLink with a STM32 F4 discovery to program the vcc-gnd.

make -f Makefile.vcc-gnd st-flash

If you need to use STM32Flash, then program like this.

make -f Makefile.vcc-gnd stm32flash

You should follow the advice on the vcc-gnd page regarding wiring for STM32Flash and remember not to connect USB simultaneously when programming.

For the Maple mini the programming process is simpler. Install dfu-util and press reset on the board and then one second later, enter the following.

make -f Makefile.maple_mini dfu-util

Connecting to the target is simple, the following schematic gives an overview of the ICSP requirements.

The pins on the Maple mini are the same as the vcc-gnd.

When waiting for instructions Mork will blink the LED quickly and leave the target running.

Here I will use PIC32Prog to program the chip with the APE65 firmware for the PICMX150F128B.

pic32prog -d /dev/ttyACM0 mx150.hex 
Programmer for Microchip PIC32 microcontrollers, Version 1.119M
    Copyright: (C) 2011-2014 Serge Vakulenko
      Adapter: STK500v2 Bootloader
 Program area: 1d000000-1d07ffff
    Processor: Bootloader
 Flash memory: 512 kbytes
  Boot memory: 12 kbytes
         Data: 55500 bytes
        Erase: done
Program flash: ######################################################### done
 Program boot: ### done      
 Verify flash: ######################################################## done
  Verify boot: ## done                                                      
Rate: 10814 bytes per second                                                 

You may notice the LED blink more slowly during programming and slower still during verify. After the process is completed, the target runs again and Mork waits for further instructions.

If you want to use this device in Windows then the usbser.sys driver must be loaded.

If the device is unrecognised (XP) install using the stmcdc.inf file in the inf sub-directory of the project.

For Windows Vista and Windows 7 a STMicroelectronics Virtual COM Port will be installed via Windows update.

Later versions of Windows are not available to test.