Great Cow
Basic CHIPINO

This is the home for the Great Cow Basic CHIPINO offers an easy way to get started with developing Microcontroller projects using the open source Great Cow Basic Compiler and CHIPINO module. Not sure what these are, then read below.

Download Great Cow Basic Software Here:

Great Cow Basic Software

We created this GreatCowBasic.com Website to make it easier to download, install and get your first program running on a pre-designed open source hardware platform. 
Note: You need to have Microsoft dotnet software installed to use the PICkit 2 programmer. If you don't have that you can download it here.

Open Source License

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All GCBC files are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

What is Great Cow Basic?

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Great Cow BASIC (GCB) is a BASIC compiler for PIC microcontrollers. It lets you to program in BASIC instead of having to learn assembly or C language. It's also completely open source ! 


Great Cow BASIC has been written with three main aims - to remove the need for repetitive assembly commands, to produce efficient code, and to make it easy to take code written for one chip and run it on another. It hides many of the more confusing parts of microcontroller programming, making it suitable for beginners and those who don't like assembly or C. It's also great for kids to learn electronic programming. And aren't we all just kids inside? 

The syntax of Great Cow BASIC is based on that of QBASIC/FreeBASIC, but with some alterations to suit the vastly different system that makes up a microcontroller. Great Cow BASIC will allow you to program most 8 bit PIC microcontrollers (PIC10F, 12F, 16F and 18F chips).

Features:
  • Standard BASIC flow control statements - If, Select Case, Do, For, Goto
  • Support for multiply, divide, add, subtract, boolean operations and comparisons.
  • Bit, Byte, Word and String data types, in addition to byte arrays.
  • Subroutines and Functions
  • Inline assembly, in most cases without any special directives
  • Data tables

Portable, reusable code:
  • Supports most 8-bit PIC microcontrollers
  • Write code for a PIC10F, 12F , 16F or 18F 8-bit PIC Microcontroller
  • Automatically recalculates all delay commands depending on the clock speed of the chip

I/O capabilities:
  • Standard 2x16 LCD routines
  • Routines for on-chip A/D, PWM, SPI, USART, EEPROM and Timers
  • RS232 communications - rates between 300 and 19200 bps with user configurable parity, start and stop bits.
  • PS/2 keyboard reading
  • 4x4 Keypad

Other features:
  • Extensive help file and forum
  • Several translations
  • Generates standard MPASM compatible assembly code for PIC.
  • Free, both in the free beer way and the free speech way!
  • Open Source.

Contributors:
Program Contributors:  
Hugh Considine - Main developer of Great Cow Basic
Stefano Bonomi - Two-wire LCD subroutines
Geordie Millar - Swap and Swap4 subroutines
Finn Stokes - 8-bit multiply routine, program memory access code

Translation Contributors (We only support English on this site):
Stefano Delfiore  - Italian
Pablo Curvelo - Spanish
Murat Inceer - Turkish

Other Contributors:
Russ Hensel - Great Cow BASIC Notes
Chuck Hellebuyck - Everything on this site.
Frank Steinberg - GCB@SYN  IDE for Great Cow Basic
Alexy T. - SynWrite IDE used for GCB IDE

You can get more information about the Great Cow Basic compiler at our GCB page.

What is CHIPINO?

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CHIPINO is an open source Microcontroller based module designed to make building electronic gadgets a whole lot easier. Yet CHIPINO has all the features a professional would need so it will grow with you as your programming skills improve from beginner to pro. 

CHIPINO is based on the Microchip PIC microcontroller. Specifically the PIC16F886 but it can be used with any 28 pin PIC microcontroller which includes a lot of choices. The CHIPINO is programmed not bootloaded so you can use off the shelf, blank, low cost Microchip PIC microcontrollers. 

CHIPINO can be used with any software tool that supports Microchip PICs. It can be programmed in Assembly, C, Basic, Jal, Pascal, and others. For the beginner, we recommend the Great Cow Basic compiler and this site is dedicated to showing you how to use CHIPINO and Great Cow Basic together to make your ideas become reality.

GCB CHIPINO Starter Kit

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​The best way to start is with a complete starter kit from howtronics.com You get the CHIPINO module, Great Cow Basic software for Windows, USB PICkit 2 clone Programmer, CHIPINO module, sample software projects and an ebook manual in pdf form.

With this setup all you need is a PC running Windows, XP, Vista or Win7 or a Mac running Parallels or VMWare and Windows.

Demo-Shield

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Another CHIPINO module from Howtronics.com is the Demo-Shield makes it easy to get your first projects running. It plugs in on top of the CHIPINO and all the connects are through the plug-in pins. 

No soldering, no jumper wires, just plug and play. 
The Demo-Shield has many features:
  • Red, Yellow and Green LEDs for making lighting projects including a traffic light or train crossing.
  • A small speaker for making computer music or sounds.
  • Alight sensor for controlling things when it light or or dark.
  • Push button switches for starting or stopping something.
  • A variable resistor knob for controlling brightness or volume.


There are many other plug-in shields you can get for CHIPINO as well including:
  • LCD Display module for displaying messages.
  • Relay module for controlling motors and lights.
  • Battery Shield for making your CHIPINO portable.
  • Prototype shield for building your own circuits.
  • Sensor shields for plugging in sensors and servo motors to make a robot.
  • And more.


You can get more information about the CHIPINO module and all it's accessories at our CHIPINO page.