I started with just the PIC datasheet to learn about the hardware
architecture and the MPASM to write (in assembler) the first try at a
PIC16C84 (at that time the PIC16F84 was not yet available). There are
plenty of sites about PICs and relative projects. The Shera controller
is based on PICs.

On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 3:46 PM, Jason Rabel
jason@extremeoverclocking.com wrote:

Hi

PIC's have been around for a long time. The PIC16's came early on and were followed by the PIC18's. Both are a bit dated at this point. The PIC24's and dsPIC33's are actually very similar parts. The PIC33's form a third family pretty much on their own. A modern version of the Microchip programmer will flash any of the parts. I have never seen a cheap eprom programmer that will program a PIC. The Microchip programmers are dirt cheap, so that's not a real problem.

I'd strongly recommend getting one of the starter kits for the dsPIC33 and play with it for a while. It should come with a cpu, a programmer, and a ton of information. The toolchain is pretty simple to use and it's free.

All that said, the Arduino empire is pretty hard to beat when it comes to mashing together a simple little light blinker. The key issue is being able to use cheap China assembled boards off of the auction sites.  Time wise, and even cost wise it's better than doing layouts and soldering up stuff. Another option are the demo boards that the semiconductor companies flog off for next to nothing. The Freescale Freedom board ($12) is one example out of hundreds. The project cost is never about the CPU, it's always about all the other stuff around it.

If the objective is to complete a very simple, low powered project and be done with it, go with the Arduino. If the objective is to learn an empire, be very careful about which empire you pick. The ARM boys are quickly gobbling up a lot of territory that once was populated by a number of competing CPU's. Learning this stuff, and getting good at it is a significant investment of time.

Bob

On May 25, 2013, at 9:46 AM, Jason Rabel jason@extremeoverclocking.com wrote:

Hi

I started out with the PIC16's as well, I did projects using a number of them, and moved to the PIC18's long ago. If you were starting out today - which family would you start with?

Bob

On May 25, 2013, at 10:03 AM, Azelio Boriani azelio.boriani@screen.it wrote:

On 5/25/13 7:22 AM, Bob Camp wrote:

If you're interested in ARM (in the long run), and find the arduino
ecosystem interesting :there are enormous numbers of add on "shields"
for Arduino, and lots of example code of varying quality around.

take a look at the Teensy3 from PJRC.. $19, it's a Freescale Kinetis
microcontroller with ARM, a fair amount of RAM and flash, but can use
either the Arduino IDE (teensyduino.. has all the libraries, in source,
to support the plethora of onchip peripherals in the Kinetis) or native
tools for the ARM.

One Arduino peripheral that's not readily available, and would be of
interest to time-nuts, is a high resolution DAC.  the Arduino (and
teensy, for that matter) have the usual PWM.  You can get a I2C
interface MCP4725 12-bitDAC from adafruit on a little daughter card
(with bypass caps, etc.), but I've not found something like a low noise
16bit DAC.

A decent DAC and the teensy, and I think you could do a very nice
Disciplined XO.. the Kinetis has a pretty complete set of
counters/timers/what-have-you that you can interconnect by setting bits
in the hundreds of control registers, once you figure out how (yep,
you'll love that 1600 page manual)

How did you decide to use a PIC and not one of the others such as the
AVR MSP or whatever?  I don't want to argue for any of the others but
if you can't list 5 or 6 good reasons to use a PIC and you are not
able to say why the oters cn't work for you then you've just selected
something at random without thinking.  SO as a check, see if you can
list pros and cons.

NONE of these chips are expensive.  You can get them for under $2.
But what you need is the development system.

Here are some things to look at:

1. Arduino:  If you are new to programming micro processors and wht to
   get started building things quickly and can afford to spend $30 this
   is the best option.  It is very easy to use.  It has a huge amount of
   suport and books and example code and it works with Windows, Linux and
   Mac OS X.

2. If cost is an issue look at TI's "launchpad".  They are noow $10
   (shipping included)  For that you get two chips the programmer board.
   You can use the board in your projects (it is credit card sized) or
   pull off the programmed ship and use that.  The MSP chip uses "micro
   watts" and can run for years on a battery.

3. the "Pi" is almost PC-like and very easy to use.  Costs about $40

4. PICs are good too. but they are the oldest technology and limey
   have a steeper learning curve.  You will need some kind of programmer
   and software but the parts are inexpensive.

You have to decide what you are going to USE the device for first.
Some are bets for different purposes.  And also how much time you are
willing to invest in learning.  How much programming experience do
you have?

On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 6:46 AM, Jason Rabel
jason@extremeoverclocking.com wrote:

--

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California

On 5/25/13 10:55 AM, Chris Albertson wrote:

and requires a HDMI or DVI monitor..

Le 25 mai 2013 à 22:53, Jim Lux a écrit :

If you don't need graphics it runs fine headless using putty to ssh into.

Even with graphics it works fine (I think it works better) headless using X or VNC

Sent from my iPhone

On May 25, 2013, at 17:05, mike cook mc235960@gmail.com wrote:

On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 08:46:03AM -0500, Jason Rabel wrote:

Microchip has good product selection tools like this one:
http://www.microchip.com/maps/microcontroller.aspx
(note the plus signs on the right side of each section)

Depending on the type of LED display you have in mind, you
want to have PWM capabilities (multiplexing) and high
current source/sink, as well as an (E)U(S)ART for the serial
communication.

A four digit LED display can be easily controlled by a
PIC16F1503 (price about 0.8 USD, 14 pins) and the required
documents are available on the Microchip site:
http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en553475

You can do the UART part in software for low data rates
or simply take the PIC16F1508/9 which already includes
an EUSART (price about 1.3 USD, 20 pins)

One programmer for many PIC chips (8 bit to 32 bit) is
the PICkit2 which can be bought for less than 30 USD
(via usb, works fine on Linux and MacOS as well)

HTH,
Herbert