Stamp/ PIC questions.

[cubdh23]

Hi i was also wondering about the stamp or Pic or whatever its called. I know that it is very cheap and basic. I am familiar with the 6812 which is a 112 pin chip with 4 KB on chip eeprom and many features. I was wondering maybe i should use 2 or 3 stamps in my project instead of One 6812. 6812 is overkill but im familiar with it . It would improve the performance of my project considering with multiple controllers i could have a user interface in multiple locations and my main controller, instead of everything in one controller. The problem is i really dont know much about stamps and how much programming space i will need. What is the standard programming space on these things on chip? also since the stamp has less pins it would be easier to put on PCB. I was wondering how much programming space would i need using the stamp programming for keypad scanning software and LCD hookup and possible remote control i would need input capture for that also i would need to use seriial Port and the code for temperature sensor. Aprox how much programming code is that in stamp language? also i would need to communicate with the main controller. Probably another stamp. Is it possible to do all that with a stamp?
I heard they are only 128 KB of program space.

sorry for the long question. and the many questions im asking but iv never done a project before. except for labs.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi i was also wondering about the stamp or Pic or whatever its called. I know that it is very cheap and basic. I am familiar with the 6812 which is a 112 pin chip with 4 KB on chip eeprom and many features. I was wondering maybe i should use 2 or 3 stamps in my project instead of One 6812. 6812 is overkill but im familiar with it . It would improve the performance of my project considering with multiple controllers i could have a user interface in multiple locations and my main controller, instead of everything in one controller. The problem is i really dont know much about stamps and how much programming space i will need. What is the standard programming space on these things on chip? also since the stamp has less pins it would be easier to put on PCB. I was wondering how much programming space would i need using the stamp programming for keypad scanning software and LCD hookup and possible remote control i would need input capture for that also i would need to use seriial Port and the code for temperature sensor. Aprox how much programming code is that in stamp language? also i would need to communicate with the main controller. Probably another stamp. Is it possible to do all that with a stamp?
I heard they are only 128 KB of program space.

Take a look at their website at which allows you to download datasheets etc.

They certainly are not anywhere near 128KB - the original STAMP only has 512 BYTES.

STAMP's are fairly expensive, so if you are talking multiple ones you may as well use the money to buy a BASIC compiler, then you can produce as many chips as you need at very little cost - plus they run a great deal faster.

Writing in assembler you could probably fit everything in fairly easily in 2K of memory (as in a 16F628), however, a 16F876 would give you more memory and more I/O pins. If you want to look into assembler programming, my tutorials at http://www.winpicprog.co.uk include hex keypads, LCD's and serial port.

Assembler is fairly easy, as it's a RISC processor with only 35 instructions, a lot less to learn than your 6812 :lol:

 

[cubdh23]

Thank you i meant to say 128 bytes not 128 KB.

 

[cubdh23]

Hmmm what is a stamp compiler? It seems a stamp chip is about 40-60 dollars. I thought they were in the 2-5 dollars range. The 6812 is 20 dollars. I like the stamp for its simplicity though. What other benefits do you think the stamp has? For what types of applications would u use the stamp and for what would u not use it?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hmmm what is a stamp compiler? It seems a stamp chip is about 40-60 dollars. I thought they were in the 2-5 dollars range. The 6812 is 20 dollars. I like the stamp for its simplicity though. What other benefits do you think the stamp has? For what types of applications would u use the stamp and for what would u not use it?

Well a STAMP isn't a chip, it's a complete unit - built on a very small footprint, so they are rather expensive. There are various PIC BASIC compilers available (do a google search), one of the earliest can be found here https://www.melabs.com/. For $99 it claims to be STAMP compatible.

The advantages of a STAMP are basically it's ease of use, and the amount of example code that exists. If you are wanting more than one, as I mentioned previously, you may as well buy a compiler and program normal PIC's.

If you can write assembler, or don't mind learning (there's only 35 commands), you may as well use assembler - or any other language, but assembler is free - and you can access all facilities of the chip, as you are using it's native language.

 

[Rescyou]

Micros

Having owned just about ever Stamp-class processor out there I would recommend Microchips line of PICs. They are extremely quick compared to the stamp-class micros and come with a lot of hardware options. They are not as user friendly as the stamp-class systems but I have found that 90% of programming is exactly the same when using variations of basic so you can read a stamp book and still apply it to PIC's etc. Stamps are one of the slower micro's out there as they use an on-chip interpreter not a compliler but their support system, user base and documentation is second to none.

Resc.