McLab1 and K16F Boards in PICSimLab: PIC16F84, 628 and 648
Not every PIC course starts with a PIC16F877A. A large amount of classic teaching material — especially older books and entry-level courses — is built on the small PIC16F84, PIC16F628 and PIC16F648. PICSimLab covers those chips with two boards: the Labtools McLab1 and the K16F, a teaching board designed by the PICSimLab author himself.
Overview
The McLab1 is PICSimLab’s model of the Labtools McLab1 board. The K16F is the author’s own teaching board, and its official examples use MPLAB X with the XC8 compiler. Both boards run on the picsim backend and support the identical trio of small mid-range PICs, so code and exercises move freely between them.
Supported MCUs
| Board | Microcontrollers (official list) | Backend |
|---|---|---|
| McLab1 | PIC16F84, PIC16F628, PIC16F648 | picsim |
| K16F | PIC16F84, PIC16F628, PIC16F648 | picsim |
Backend & debugging
Both boards use the picsim backend with MPLAB X Integrated Debug: install the com-picsim-picsimlab.nbm plugin and MPLAB X connects to PICSimLab over TCP (port 1234 by default) for debugging and programming, as described in our MPLAB X plugin guide. For PIC16F boards the Code Project Wizard generates MPLAB X projects using XC8, and the K16F’s official examples follow exactly that MPLAB X + XC8 path.
What you can do
- Work through classic 16F84/16F628 course exercises — port I/O, delays, timers and interrupts — without a programmer or a physical board.
- Use the general PICSimLab workflow from our PIC16F877A blink tutorial: generate the project, build in MPLAB X, load the hex, add spare parts, run.
- Practice register-level skills that transfer directly to bigger chips, such as the Timer0 interrupt pattern and data EEPROM reads and writes on the 628/648.
- Attach LEDs, push buttons and displays from Modules → Spare parts, as in the LED and push button tutorial.
Real limits
- Small chips, small scope: these three parts are entry-level mid-range PICs. There is no ADC on the PIC16F84, and none of the three offers the peripheral richness of a PIC16F877A or PIC18F part — that is a property of the real chips, faithfully reflected here.
- Only these three microcontrollers are selectable on McLab1 and K16F. For the 877A/4550 class of projects use McLab2 or PICGenios instead.
- picsim’s documented peripheral set (ADC, interrupts, WDT, TMR0–TMR2, USART, CCP, EEPROM, I/O ports) is the ceiling of what the backend claims to model.
- PICSimLab has no built-in code editor; MPLAB X + XC8 must be installed first.
Get PICSimLab from the download page, pick McLab1 or K16F, and bring your 16F84/628/648 exercises with you.