Considering buying Oshonsoft suite-Is it any good?

Hello; I use it as a hobby and for educational purposes.
For professional use, use C.
It works reasonably well and has several updates a year.
I don't know of other platforms that are similar to compare it with.
I'm sorry I can't help you with more information.

There are a few people who are enthused by it, but it has been almost 60 years since I have written a BASIC program. I'm probably the wrong person to opine on this subject, being one of the bare metal types.

Look at Swordfish Basic. It's a powerful compiled basic similar to Visual Basic. It works with most PIC18F- series micros and is kept up-to-date by tumbleweed .

The "special edition" free trial version has very generous limits to the point that many users never feel the need to upgrade to the paid version.

I've used the Oshonsoft IDE for many years. It is fine for most simple projects. Of course, one's programming skills will determine how well you can manipulate the PIC code.
I've also converted some Oshonsoft code to GCB, not much different overall. Some differences with built in routines, but manageable. I find GCB is a bit more compact in final code size. However, I stick to the Oshonsoft due to the IDE/Simulator features. It is easier to debug code with a visible PIC pinout diagram and watching the output pins or toggling an input pin. Simulator has a few minor issues, so watch carefully for interrupt routines or UART functions.

djsb said:

Hi,
I've just joined this forum specifically as it has an Oshonsoft sub forum. I've been looking at the Oshonsoft Simulator and basic compiler for a while. Now that I've found this forum, I will have a good read of the posts and install the PIC16 evaluation software.
I mainly use PIC16 and the CCS C compiler, and also Arduino MCU's. I have some experience of PIC assembly language. Oshonsoft seems to be good value at around £60 for the full suite. How does it compare to something like Great Cow Basic. Can assembly language produced by the Oshonsoft basic compiler be used with the Microchip assembler. Is the IDE, simulator and compiler stable? Is the support good and are updates fairly regular? Sorry for all the questions. Just doing some basic research before I spend my money. Thanks.

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If you're already familiar with C and C++, then why not just use MPLAB and the XC series compilers?, faster than using basic, many more users of it, almost all examples and application notes use it, and it's free!.

djsb said:

Hi,
I've just joined this forum specifically as it has an Oshonsoft sub forum. I've been looking at the Oshonsoft Simulator and basic compiler for a while. Now that I've found this forum, I will have a good read of the posts and install the PIC16 evaluation software.
I mainly use PIC16 and the CCS C compiler, and also Arduino MCU's. I have some experience of PIC assembly language. Oshonsoft seems to be good value at around £60 for the full suite. How does it compare to something like Great Cow Basic. Can assembly language produced by the Oshonsoft basic compiler be used with the Microchip assembler. Is the IDE, simulator and compiler stable? Is the support good and are updates fairly regular? Sorry for all the questions. Just doing some basic research before I spend my money. Thanks.

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Hi D,
I use the Oshonsoft suite, and for me it's great, as I can only use BASIC. I'm not sure if it will work with other program languages?
If you are capable of learning 'C' I would learn it.
I gather that MPLAB is worth looking into.
If you're just starting in programming look at both, and try to compare them. You can use the Oshonsoft suite free for 'I think' 30 goes. Get an example program, and watch the Simulator run through it, showing you which line you're on while also showing the variables changing and with microcontroller view whatch the pins change.
If you can't find an example program, I can post one for you.
Cheers, C.

The choice depends on your specific requirements. For students and hobbyists, Great Cow is of course a better choice. Because it is open-source.

tepalia02 said:

The choice depends on your specific requirements. For students and hobbyists, Great Cow is of course a better choice. Because it is open-source.

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Hi T,
I just looked at Great cow, and it does look good, but I'm stuck in time so I'll stay with Oshonsoft.
Does GC have a simulator? I rely on the Osh one.
C

camerart said:

Hi T,
I just looked at Great cow, and it does look good, but I'm stuck in time so I'll stay with Oshonsoft.
Does GC have a simulator? I rely on the Osh one.
C

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No. GC does not have a simulator. I checked their website too: https://gcbasic.sourceforge.io/Typesetter/index.php/Home

tepalia02 said:

No. GC does not have a simulator. I checked their website too: https://gcbasic.sourceforge.io/Typesetter/index.php/Home

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Hi T,
Thanks for checking.
Ok, as mentioned I need a simulator, but if you are skilled enough to program without one, I can't answer the initial question, but if you need a simulator, then OSH is very good.
C

I've just bought the IDE suite, so I can try out the simulator. Has anyone got a simple LED blink program for either a PIC16F819 or PIC16F1847 (8 MHZ clock) that they can share to get me started? Thanks

I deduce that you want to test it in reality, I don't have the pic to do the real test but it will be very similar to this:

'******************************************************************************
'Example_01
'Example of flashing of a led connected to pin 0 of the PORTB (PORTB.0 = RB0).
'2024/07/20, Pic Basic Compiler v9.56 (PSI), Pic16F819
'******************************************************************************
'Fuse configuration
#define CONFIG = 0x2F50
'Clock 8Mhz
Define CLOCK_FREQUENCY = 8
'Define SIMULATION_WAITMS_VALUE = 1 'Activate for simulation
'-------------------------------------------------------------------
main:
'Clock settings internal 8 Mhz
OSCCON.IRCF0 = 1
OSCCON.IRCF1 = 1
OSCCON.IRCF2 = 1
'-----------------------------------------
'Pin configuration
AllDigital 'All pin as como I/O
ConfigPin PORTA = Output
ConfigPin PORTB = Output
'-----------------------------------------
Symbol Led = PORTB.0 'Or RB0 Assign name to the pin.

'Infinite Loop
While True

Led = 1 'PORTB.0 = 1 or RB0 =1 (pin)
WaitMs 500 'Pause 500 mSec.
Led = 0 'PORTB.0 = 0 or RB0 = 0 (pin)
WaitMs 500 'Pause 500 mSec.

Wend
End

Thanks for your reply and example code.
Yes, for testing on real hardware. I mainly use PIC16F819, PIC16F1827 or PIC16F1847. I also have a load of PIC16F628A lying around unused I can use as well. My main motivation for buying the Oshonsoft software is that I want to learn how to use an old Philips SAA1057 PLL synthesizer chip. I've found some Oshonsoft basic code for this chip that uses a PIC16F628A. There is virtually NO code for this chip in C anywhere. Basic is simple enough to get an idea of how the chip is programmed. I'll start a new topic for that tomorrow.

djsb said:

Thanks for your reply and example code.
Yes, for testing on real hardware. I mainly use PIC16F819, PIC16F1827 or PIC16F1847. I also have a load of PIC16F628A lying around unused I can use as well. My main motivation for buying the Oshonsoft software is that I want to learn how to use an old Philips SAA1057 PLL synthesizer chip. I've found some Oshonsoft basic code for this chip that uses a PIC16F628A. There is virtually NO code for this chip in C anywhere. Basic is simple enough to get an idea of how the chip is programmed. I'll start a new topic for that tomorrow.

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It's dead simple to alter code from BASIC to C, so no motivation in that regard.

As most above... I program in a lower level language, BUT there is little wrong with Oshonsoft. It produces pretty good code and runs very well.

The pro's and con's are:

Pro's.. Pretty decent IDE and simulator. If you have the whole suite, you can code for MANY chips..
has USB support and a pletherer of support for LCD's, R/C 's, modbus... Etc..

Cons'.. Too high level, doesn't support hardware level communication ( apart from USART), doesn't support signed/ unsigned variables, string library not great.

However! All the cons' can be made good, DogFlu66 seems to be building quite the library to aid this IDE and several of us have written hardware SPI, I2C to integrate.

For the price.... Well its pretty well up there.

Currently, it does allow signed integers. The handling of strings has been significantly improved, allowing the length of each string to be declared individually (previously, the length could be declared, but all strings had to be the same length). Additionally, string control via pointers has been added. However, this does not mean it is free of deficiencies compared to the C language. It still needs improvements to facilitate the handling of complex data, pointers, and data lists, among other features that are crucial for advanced programming but might never be used by a hobbyist.

In truth, it has been modernized and improved significantly. The environment is very pleasant and enjoyable, which is essential to prevent boredom, especially from a hobbyist's perspective.

In my opinion, there's no point in using a powerful and excellent language if you get bored after five minutes. There's a time, a place, and a type of user for everything.