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19 Comments
- tdp301, on 03/28/2009, -0/+9The nice thing about these PICs is that they can do a lot and yet are surprisingly cheap. You could get a 16f877 for less than $10. I don't know if this article is descriptive enough to get beginners started though IMHO.
- exodii, on 03/28/2009, -0/+7Nice article. If only it were so easy.
- jonathanseely, on 03/28/2009, -3/+10Awesome, easy guide! Thanks.
- MattBD, on 03/28/2009, -0/+6Sounds interesting. I've been looking to buy an Arduino to tinker with - any word on whether these are any good?
- radu79, on 03/28/2009, -0/+5The PICs are pretty nice, I just finished a project where I control a camera to take pictures at predefined time intervals. It's pretty complex, it turns the camera off after each picture, and will not attempt to take pictures if it is too dark.
The nasty thing about the low-mid range PICs (up to PIC18) is that their assembly language sucks. But the good thing is that they are very easy to use on perforated boards, and relatively cheap (it will cost you about 40 bucks to get started). - jkm1313, on 03/28/2009, -0/+5Building your own board isn't really the place to start if you are looking to get into this kind of thing. However, Microchip (in addition to nearly every other manufacturer) makes pre-built demo / evaluation boards which you can buy for $75-200 or so. They typically come with a software suite and some type of programmer, and of course you don't have to worry about hardware. Once you play with one of those for a while, then it becomes much easier to build your own stuff.
- stuartjmoore, on 03/28/2009, -0/+4Microchip will send you PICs for free. I used to have about 20 "samples."
- mbtria, on 03/28/2009, -0/+4This stuff is just incredible to play with. I am using a different microprocessor family right now, but for those who find an interest in this stuff, it doesn't take a tremendous investment in time or money. You don't have to know much about electronics. You can learn what you need to as you go along if you can read and follow simple directions. If you keep your initial goals within reason, you can almost plug and play with some of the kits and books out there. It is very accessible technology.
- Aleman360, on 03/28/2009, -1/+4Even easier is a Parallax BASIC stamp. Write in BASIC instead of mucking around in Assembly or C (it's actually just a PIC microcontroller running a BASIC interpreter): http://www.parallax.com/tabid/295/Default.aspx
I used these in college for design projects and they are super easy to program for. You can get a full dev kit with a USB interface at Radio Shack for like $60-80.
For example, to send 5V out on one of the many I/O pins, the code is:
HIGH PIN_NUMBER
Can't get much easier than that. It also comes with a book that explains and provides code for interfacing an ADC, 555 timer, etc. Only does integer math though. - Haplo, on 03/28/2009, -0/+3ARM is CISC? Huh?
- noisymime, on 03/28/2009, -0/+3Arduino's are, in my opinion, far and away the easiest way to get started with mirocontroller gear. They're cheap, simple and have tons of IO. There's also a fantastic community and hundreds of examples out there.
I can't recommend them highly enough. - TheMachine1, on 03/28/2009, -0/+2I bought my PIC development kit from this guy:
http://www.phanderson.com/
I think a person could assemble simple projects fairly easy. I had a c compiler and thus did not have to learn assembly. - thoughtLeech, on 03/28/2009, -0/+2Silicon Labs c8051F120 developement kit for $99.
The things i could have done with this thing in college... =) - jggube, on 03/28/2009, -3/+5The diagrams and graphics were really helpful in helping me understand the concepts discussed.
- sanskrtam, on 03/29/2009, -0/+1Except for several errors, this shows a nice insight about hardwares.
- akieran, on 03/29/2009, -0/+1I've be tinkering with PICs for a few years and they're a lot of fun to work with. I've bought several development boards but by far the best, is this one:
http://www.mikroe.com/en/tools/easypic5/
No, I have no connection to the company. I just love my EasyPIC.
A. - crazymaster16, on 03/28/2009, -3/+4That's really interesting tutorial and easy to understand.
Thanks ! - Rocketman574, on 03/28/2009, -4/+5Someone's been buying Diggs again... This isn't interesting or even understandable to the average user.
- houseswopper, on 04/27/2009, -0/+0hmmm abit complicated for me. :)
Interesting all the same
Johnny
http://houseswopper.co.uk
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