Chipkit uC32

The Digilent Chipkit MCU interfaces the Hamamatsu C7041 CCD head 
to the python host program (labram*.py) running on the XP PC.
It runs firmware (previously hamamatsu*.ino, currently test1006s.ino).
It is a 32-bit 80MHz MCU with 10-bit ADC that is currently used
for the CCD. The current goal is to use the 24-bit ADS1252 ADC
but it is not very user-friendly...

[NOTE: Mayhew's 16 bit Extended ADC Shield is now being used as the ADC,
and the Digilent Max32 may be used as the MCU in the future because
it has more memory]

Cuurent Chipkit uC32 MCU connections:





The detached brownish orange wire is not used.
It originally carried the video signal from the CCD
but was replaced by coax.

One coax connector is video. 

The other coax connector is the frame sync (the START signal 
sent to the CCD to initiate a readout). Since I don't have a 
storage scope, different firmware is used to continously initiate 
readouts as fast as possible (see vlooper*.ino).