Little help picking a pic

Can someone help me out. I m looking to get started using pic but need somesort of overview of it capabilities pros cons compared to something like basic stamp and were to get a kit to get started.

https://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=BS2-IC
as i see it the basic stamp2 is just that , a pic running basic, but
you should really get into pic assembly because that is the only way to really understand what is going on inside the Pic..
my sugestion is go to
www.microchip.com
order some samples ,
get Nigels pic programing software ,
and build you own programmer

as ur in the us, www.sparkfun.com is great for programmers and prototyping tools i know (but im not from the us)

So there is no difference between PIC and BASIC STAMP I thought they were two different things. I guess what I m looking for is some sort of starter kit that has the programmer and a couple of ic to program and a couple of trainning projects.

MARINE1142 said:

So there is no difference between PIC and BASIC STAMP I thought they were two different things. I guess what I m looking for is some sort of starter kit that has the programmer and a couple of ic to program and a couple of trainning projects.

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A BASIC STAMP is a pre-programmed PIC that runs a BASIC interpreter, this means it runs SLOWWWWWWWW! - it's also MUCH, MUCH more expensive. PIC's are cheap devices, and run nice and fast!.

Then what you are saying is that PIC is the way to go and all you would need is some of these ic and a PIC programmer and pc and a basic understanding of the programing laug and I m up and running?

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That is it, but it is a little harder then the language of the crapy basic stamp 2.

So could you tell me were to find a nice starter kit that is upgradeable so that I dont have a obselete piece of equipment something that would grow with my growing knowledge of how it works and projects to build

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How much you willing to pay?

MARINE1142 said:

So could you tell me were to find a nice starter kit that is upgradeable so that I dont have a obselete piece of equipment something that would grow with my growing knowledge of how it works and projects to build

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Try my tutorials, building the P16PRO40 programmer is cheap, and all the software is FREE!. The veroboard layouts are cheap to make, and you can use them in completed projects if you wish.

I found the bottome link and found the diagram to build the programmer but the top link or the first link does not go anywhere do I need the link or what is on that link thanks again for the helping hand.

MARINE1142 said:

I found the bottome link and found the diagram to build the programmer but the top link or the first link does not go anywhere do I need the link or what is on that link thanks again for the helping hand.

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Both go to the same place, the first is via a web forwarding service, which appears to be down at the moment.

Hi Marine,
The pic is certainly the way to go for serious projects but there is also a new pic series called the picaxe
This series runs using basic and the above website is the main mob that sells them, depending where you are in the world various dealers stock them. The software is a free download and for such a simple device they are quite capable of doing some complex tasks. But it's worlds apart from learning assembly.

Hope this helps

Cheers Bryan

i have beenusing those picaxes a jear now and i cant complain. they are nice and fast (for me) and do nice things... the program is wery straight forwart.

(example)

main:
if pin0[inputs name] is ON then led[goto sub led]
goto main

led:

high 0
wait 1[wait a sec]
low 0
wait 1
goto main

if you delete the []'s then the program is runable and blinks a led

picaxes also have a speech synt that plays texts that you WRITE into it
command for it is writei2c "portname", ("Hi there")
and it says hi there

if any more help is needed, i'm ready to answer all tour wuiestions

oh yea 1 more thing programming this chip uses a COM port, wire, 2 resistors and some pins (to cennect the cable to your picaxe) and it only uses 2 pins on picaxe (+ gnd) no this it geddamn simple and useful... also if you can use RF signals to brogram it (if you build a reciever\transmitter link between it) cause it uses so little pins (i plan to do so in future)


also a nice peace is picaxe.net. this little thingy is programmed through TCP\IP (net port on your comp) and can be used as a server in the internet nice huh ?

anyways good luck with your experiments on microworld
:arrow:

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That is a cool PIC, I wish I hade that when I started robotics so I wouldn't have to pay so much for those crapy basic stamps.

bryan1 said:

Hi Marine,
The pic is certainly the way to go for serious projects but there is also a new pic series called the picaxe

Click to expand...

Well they aren't very new, they have been about for a number of years, and are often used in schools.

In many ways they are a much cheaper BASIC STAMP, it's a PIC pre-programmed with a BASIC interpreter (so they run very slowly - compared to a plain PIC!). However, wheras the STAMP has an external EEPROM for program storage, the PICAXE only uses the small amount of internal EEPROM data memory - so you can only have fairly short programs.

The good points about them are the cost, and the ease of use - they only cost about the same as a blank PIC!.

I've used the PICAXE, it's a great alternative to the Stamp. I'd definitely recommend it to beginners. But, ultimately, you'll want to use the full potential of the PIC. Start using PICs and Nigel's tutorials as soon as possible.

Mike