Features

host PC

microcontroller

Products Supported

The MPLAB ICD 2 currently supports most PIC and dsPIC

Flash microcontrollers. Flash PICmicro MCU’s not

supported are PIC16F72/73/74/76/77/83/84A.

The MPLAB ICD 2 firmware is continually being updated to

add support for new devices. A review of the README file

located in MPLAB IDE is recommended for the most current

list of supported parts. As new device firmware becomes

available, free downloads are available at

www.microchip.com.

In-Circuit Debugging Basics

Traditionally, embedded systems engineers use in-circuit

emulators (ICE) to develop and debug their designs and

then programmers to transfer the code to the devices. The

in-circuit debugging logic, when implemented, is part of the

actual microcontroller silicon and provides a low-cost

alternative to a more expensive ICE. In-circuit debugging

offers these benefits:

possible

However, it has the following trade-offs:

pins, program memory, data memory, and stack

space. As a result, some portions of an embedded

application may not be debugged.

capabilities of the in-circuit debugging logic.

supply voltage. Often an emulator probe can run

without external hardware.

All-in-one Debugger/Programmer

Solution for Flash Products

The MPLAB ICD 2 (In-Circuit Debugger 2) allows

debugging and programming of PIC®and dsPIC®Flash

microcontrollers using the powerful graphical user interface

of the MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE),

included with each kit. The MPLAB ICD 2 is connected to

the design engineer's PC using USB or RS-232 interface

and can be connected to the target via an ICD connector.

The connector uses two device I/O pins that are shared

between in-circuit debugging and In-Circuit Serial

Programming™.

Host System Requirements

higher processor, or equivalent

Windows 2000 or Windows XP. USB support may be

limited by the Windows operating system, particularly

Windows 98/NT.

MPLAB®ICD 2 In-Circuit Debugger/Programmer