I started out with the PIC32MX230F064B, for some reason... I also have the PIC32MX170F256B... I figured I'd continue with the one I started-with, but already ran into some (minor) difficulty: my USB->Serial converter uses 3.6V-TTL, whereas the PIC32 is running on 3.3V. Really, in this world, that should be acceptable, right...? 's just a hack at this point! Well, it ain't working, and I guess that's the first thing to check. Could it be causing "latching-up"? As far as I'm aware, never, in all my years, all my TTL and AVR circuits, actually ran into a case of that.

Anyways, the MX230 has a few 5V-tolerant pins... but apparently none that aren't already in-use. We've the JTAG pins, reset, and one dedicated to detection of the USB-Bus, that's it. Then there's the MX170, which appears to have 3 regular-ol' GPIO pins which're 5V-tolerant and have nothing to do with USB or JTAG. Nice.

...And, apparently I'm slow, because of course, I could just implement USB->serial in the MX230 itself, right? (That's *way* over my head, at this stage).

Anyways, my motor-driver communicates via 5V signals, so there's that.

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The actual laser-cut mechanical design is somewhat on-hold. I completely burnt out on it a few days back. Though on-paper I think I came up with what to do about the "drum"/driver-pulleys and how to "snap" them to motors.