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Keith Vogel codes with MPLAB X

29 August 2019

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My name is Keith Vogel. I started programming in C in 1982 for McDonnel Douglas. I got a nice job as an intern working in the avionics lab doing some test software for the F15 fighters. My real start to my programming career was when I worked for Microsoft from 1988 – 2000. I was the primary developer for Codeview, the source level debugger for Microsoft. Later I developed the Microsoft source profiler and ended up leading the public key encryption team.

In 2012 I was working at Digilent on a joint chipKIT initiative with Microchip developing chipKIT boards using the MX series of 32-bit Microchip MCUs. I attended the Microchip MASTERs and attended their class introducing MPLAB-X, Microchip’s newly updated debugger. MPLAB-X was a very new product and needed improvement to become fully functional. I met Vincent Sheard at the MASTERs, the head of the IDE tools group, and I became a beta test for MPLAB-X. At the 2013 MASTERs conference Vincent and I presented a class on how to debug chipKIT sketches with MPLAB-X.

I wrote many of the chipKIT libraries using MPLAB-X. As well as designing and developing the hardware and software for the Digilent WiFIRE, OpenScope USB/WiFi oscilloscope, and OpenLogger a USB/WiFi DAQ each utilizing the Microchip MZ MCUs.

Currently I am working on some proprietary navigation hardware and software using a Microchip 32-bit MCU.

I have used MPLAB-X for all of the chipKIT 32-bit Microchip MX and MZ series of processors, and the MZ and MZDA for the OpenScope and OpenLogger products. I am currently using the MZ for my current prototyping. All of which is/was debugged in MPLAB-X.

I use MPLAB-X almost exclusively on Microchip’s 32-bit line of MCUs. To date that has been the MX and MZ series of MCUs. The actual PCB hardware is hardware I designed. In particular, the WiFIRE, OpenScope, and OpenLogger.

As I am developing hardware, I also use Altium for circuit design and layout, Tina for circuit simulation, Excel for analysis and plotting, and some proprietary software to interface to our hardware. Of course, the standard stuff, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

I only heard of NetBeans because MPLAB-X was developed using the NetBeans IDE environment. I am not an IDE developer, only an IDE user. So, my experience with IDE development tools is limited.

I can be reached by email.