What's it for?

VirtualBreadboard (VBB) is for designing and testing embedded software in high-level interactive circuit simulations and rapidly prototyping hardware from those designs. Compared to other simulators many people find the high level approach taken VBB easier to use and much faster to model and test out new ideas and circuit variations.  

20 examples in 3 minutes

A quick tour of VBB's Virtual Arduino builtin examples and also a good snapshot of what you can do in VBB

Got a Bug or Suggestion - Enter it here

25 May 2010 VBB 3.6.4 Available Whats New * PIC16F628 * PIC16F628 Examples * Added EEPROM to PIC16F877 * Added Relay Component ( Switches Group) 8 May 2010 VBB 3.6.0 Available Whats new * Undo! in Breadboard Design Sheets * Stepper Component * Arduino - Stepper Library Support - Stepper Example - Added micros() and delayMicroseconds() - #define statements supported in any source code 27 April, 2010 Got a Bug or Suggestion - Enter it here 18 April, 2010 VBB 3.5.7 Available Whats New * Microchip PIC16 - Fixed a bug with PIC16 devices that only have .hex files. They reset and run immediately now. * Arduino - Added support for multiple .pde files in sketches and also for User Library Support with cpp files. To add a user library you can right click the Arduino source project and add a CPP source file and matching C Header file. You can also add additional Arduino Source files - only one should have the setup() and loop() routines and this is considered the main. See the Morse example for how to work with custom libraries. NOTE: Only Arduino language is supported - you cannot use arbitary cpp or processor specific inline assembly Arduino Examples Added the following standard examples * User Libraries / Morse This example is from the Arduino tutorial on how to add a user custom library. * User Libraries / MorseSub This example does the same job as morse except that a .pde subroutine is called from the MorseSub.pde to illustrate using seperate .pde files as subroutine files. 10 April, 2010 VBB 3.5.6 Available  Whats New Tab Completion and context sensitive method suggestions when editing Arduino code 9 April, 2010 VBB 3.5.5 Available  Whats New Arduino Library Support   * EEPROM - Includes a property in the Virtual Arduino board for editing or loading and saving the EEPROM to a file  * Servo - Generates Servo pulses suitable for driving a servo component Arduino Examples Added the following standard examples * EEPROM -  EEPROMClear,  EEPROMRead,  EEPROMWrite * Servo -  Knob, Sweep 4 April 20 examples in 3 minutes A quick tour of VBB's Virtual Arduino builtin examples and also a good snapshot of what you can do in VBB VBB 3.5.4 - 4 April 2010 Better runtime error handling for Arduino VBB 3.5.3 - 3 April 2010 Whats New LED Anode - The LED 1,4,8 have a new Anode property which allows you to use a pin to specify the anode instead of the default ground. Useful for multiplexing LEDs Example Fixes - Fixes the BasicStamp and RoboPAL examples caused by the Xencode release model  NOTE: Since there is no installer the MPLAB Plugin does not get installed. This will be available as a seperate install shortly. 3.5.2.exe - 2 April 2010 Xenocode Virtualisation Instead of being distributed as an installer, VBB is now distributed as a Xencode EXE which means all of the files are contained in a single executable sandbox EXE which doesnt need installing. Just save it to your desktop and run it. This is great for managing versions and running on machines that would otherwise lock you out. NOTE: You still need to install the dependencies of J# and DirectX seperately. See the notes at the bottom of this page New Components Arduino The largest addition for this version is integrated support for the popular Arduino board. The standard board is supported along with many of the libraries. In VBB you are able to edit and run realtime emulations of Arduino applications. Arduino Examples The 25 examples provided illustrate the libraries supported by VBB HD44780 LCD The standard and long requested HD44780 is now available. The custom character, cursor and cursor blinking is not functional but the rest works nicely Buzzer The buzzer component expects square waves in audible frequencies which it converts to a tone and plays using direct sound. A LCD Matrix The LDM-24488NI Matrix. is a neat LCD matrix which allows mini bitmaps to be displayed. The component implements a fade feature to allow scanning to operate.   PWM to Analog A PWM to Analog converter function block which accepts PWM and outputs a duty based analog level

Check Install Notes See Troubleshooting Enter a bug or suggestion Download VirtualBreadboard Version 3.6.4 ( 25 May 2010 )   Download MPLAB PLUGIN Version 1.0 ( 4 April 2010 )   Contact:   Quick Tips When wiring you must have a single wire ending on pins on either end. If successfully wired it will become thicker. Click left button to create the wire and right button to finish the link To view a DesignSheet (Breadboard, source project etc) You drag and drop it into a viewing panel. If the panel is occupied you can always drag into the title bar of the panel t The Toolbox and Toolbar are context sensitive and change when the current design sheet is selected. In particular this means you need to select a Breadboard to simulate to see the run toolbar It is highly recommended to save your project immediately after creating it to give it a file location which can avoid problems when adding new source files later If you are using the PICMICRO examples make sure MPLAB is installed in the default location or you can change the location see here   Screenshots DesignMode RunMode PicMicro Arduino

		Simulate a Hex File	Say you have created a HEX file using your compiler or whatever and you want to simulate it. This tutorial shows you the basic steps to 1) Start VBB and create a New project 2) Drag and Drop a PIC18F8722 ( My HEX uses this part ) 3) Wire up some virtual hardware, a LCD and COM Monitor 4) Save the project 5) Locate the properties of the PIC and link the Application property to the HEX file to run 6) Run the virtual application 7) Edit the properties to improve the simulation.
		Creating an Arduino Project from Scratch	Say you have an Arduino source code file you want to simulate. There are lots of Arduino example built into VBB but this tutorial shows you how to do it from scratch? 1) Starting with a Arduino application called Blink.pde on the desktop 2) Start VBB and create a new Project 3) Drag and Drop an Arduino board onto the Breadboard and then drag and drop a LED onto pin 13 4) Save the project: Note Its important to save the project before adding source projects. We are calling the project MyBlink 5) Copy your Arduino application into the MyBlink VBB Project folder 6) Add an Arduino Source project to the folder by right clicking on the Project and selecting from the list. 7) Add the Arduino Blink.pde Source file to to the Arduino Source Project by right clicking on the Arduino Source project. You can select Blink.pde from the list because it is in the project folder already 8) NOTE: To view the source project you need to drag and drop it into a view panel  9) You now need to link the source code project to the Arduino processor so you click the Arduino board and then select from the Application property the name of the project source 10) You are now ready to run the simulation so click run and you will see the LED blink 11) You can inplace edit your arduino code but you need to save it before you compile it. If you make syntax errors you will see those in the Errors List.
HTML		Using MPLAB .LST Files	How to debug a MPLAB .LST File
	FLASH	First Debug Project	Minimal steps for creating a debug project VBB3. ( No comments yet )
	FLASH ( 6.3 Mb)	Logic Analyser Basics ( 6.3 Mb)	How to add and use the Logic Analyser with your projects
	FLASH ( 5.5 Mb )	Using MPLAB Plugin	How to connect to your project hardware from MPLAB using the VBB MPLAB Plugin
	FLASH ( 5.5 Mb )(fixed)	Virtual Serial Port	How to connect a serial ethernet bridge to VBB applications in-circuit

Installation Instructions

The VirtualBreadboard application is a single Standalone EXE. You can simply download it to your desktop or preferred location.

However, VirtualBreadboard has the following dependencies which need to be installed on your computer. These may already be installed on your computer and only need to be installed once.

1) Latest version of DirectX - Click here to download from Microsoft

2) .Net 2.0 Redistributable. Click here to download from Microsoft

3) J# 2.0 Redistributable. Click here to download from Microsoft

Now you can download VBB