Table of Contents

THVP

The THVP (Trivial High Voltage Programmer), designed by Byron A. Jeff, is a PIC programmer for the Parallel Port. It is similar to other Tait-style parallel port programmers. Byron's THVP page can be found here: http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys/proghvp.html

I had been using my first one (built on a veroboard) for a few years, but wanted some real PCBs. So I started eagle (http://www.cadsoft.de) and layouted the schematic as a single-sided board that would be cheap to have made at a board house.

My THVP board already incorporates the “long cable termination scheme”. Since I designed the board to be used for ICSP (Microchip's name for in-circuit programming), I also designed a companion board (ICSP2DIP) where at least the 16,18,28,40pin DIP packaged PICs can be plugged in if your circuits don't have ICSP capability. (Well, I copied the schematic from Olimex's PG2C, but the layout is my own)

Here's how they look:

:thvp.jpg :icsp2dip.jpg
:thvp.png:icsp2dip.png

Construction Tutorial

My construction tutorial can be found here: http://projects.varxec.net/images/thvp/gal/thvp_assembly_galleryidxplusdesc.html

Download

Here are the files in eagle format, gerber, and postscript:

Eagle Format

THVP
Schematic: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.sch
Layout: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.brd

ICSP2DIP
Schematic: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.sch
Layout: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.brd

Gerber Format

THVP
Bottom/Solder Side Pads/Traces: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.sol
Bottom/Solder Side Solder Mask: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.sts
Outline/Milling Layer: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.oul
Silk Screen: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.plc
Drills: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.drd
Drillrack: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/MB_drillrack1.drl

ICSP2DIP
Bottom/Solder Side Pads/Traces: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.sol
Bottom/Solder Side Solder Mask: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.sts
Top Pads/Traces: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.cmp
Top Solder Mask: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.stc
Outline/Milling Layer: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.oul
Silk Screen: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.plc
Drills: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.drd
Drillrack: http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/MB_drillrack1.drl

Postscript Format

THVP
Bottom Layer (traces/pads): http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.bot_ps
dito, mirrored:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.bot_mir_ps
Silk Screen Layer:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.silk_ps
dito, mirrored:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/THVP.silk_mir_ps

ICSP2DIP
Bottom Layer (traces/pads): http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.bot_ps
dito, mirrored:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.bot_mir_ps
Top Layer (traces/pads):http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.top_ps
dito, mirrored:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.top_mir_ps
Silk Screen Layer:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.silk_ps
dito, mirrored:http://projects.varxec.net/mbuploads/PIC_prog_ICSP2DIP.silk_mir_ps

Software Support

I'm using Pikdev's commandline programming utility pkp with the THVP. Here's my .pkprc

 port=/dev/parport0
 type=parallel
 vpp=-4
 vdd=6
 clock=3
 datao=2
 datai=10

More Info

There's at least one thread about the THVP in my PHCC Forum:
http://forums.varxec.net/index.php?t=msg&th=141&start=0&rid=3