Re: BASIC Stamp Good Investment in Time?

Posted by DS on March 25, 2005, 8:54 am

Hi

Start out with the PIC16F28, PIC16F27, or even the PIC16F84., and work your
way up.

1. GO here. This is a TOP site:
http://www.mikroelektronika.co.yu/english/index.htm

2. Get their test board - the EasyPIC ( or stuff I recommend on my site
http://www.users.tpg.com.au/daleste/index.htm ).

3. Learn Assembly language first. Read through their free online book on
PICs and Assembly language ( my EE teacher has linked to it for his assembly
students - so must be good ), and also go to www.sq-1.com and get the book
Easy Microcontrol'n (if you like).

4. Learn some plain old C first (get Kernighan & Ritchie Second Edition -
THE C BOOK ). Find a free C compiler like at www.bloodshed.net , and learn
some basic C programming.

5 Download a free evaluation version of their C compiler and IDE for PICs:
http://www.mikroelektronika.co.yu/english/index.htm

6. You can try out the PIC C Lite later (it's pretty crappy, as it is very
limited in the type of PICs you can program, and there are limitations on
some of these as well)

Don't bother with C2C compiler, the author offers lousy support. The above
link has an excellent forum.

If you want to do PICs for fun as a hobby, program in any program u like.

If you plan to do it for a living FORGET BASIC - my teacher says it's NOT
used by engineers in the real world.

Keep in touch with the mikroelektronika crew - their C compiler is new (read
some bugs, etc), BUT it is very close to ANSI C, and it will get better with
time. Once again-they have a very good and helpful forum.

Cheers

Dale

> I saw your post on usenet - ordered the book from amazon just now, does
> the book tell me how to get the 'free' sample chips from microchip that
> you mentioned? If not - how can i go about doing that. your post was
> really informative. hope to hear from you!
> Catman wrote:

> > Dale,
> > In your case, a Basic Stamp will be a waste of $50. The BS is good

> for

> > designing fairly simple controls very quickly and easily. It is

> great

> > for beginners that don't plan to make a huge number of devices and

> for

> > professionals who have a high burden rate and often make simple,

> one-off

> > controls.
> > Instead, I would recommend that you get the book "Programming Robot
> > Controllers" by Myke Predko. It starts from scratch using PIC chips

> and

> > breadboards. The version of C he uses (Hitech's PICC Lite) is free

> and

> > so are the chips if you just ask Microchip for samples (they will

> give

> > you 2 or 3 per quarter). Myke even shows how to build your own
> > programmer for around $20. The programs in the book are written in

> C.

> > At first, you can blindly use his code while you learn to wire up the
> > circuits. Later, after you have learned C in your classes, you will

> be

> > able to easily modify what He has wrote.
> > If you want to get a jump on your C class, go to
> > http://www.fored.co.uk/html/learn_c_with_fed.htm and download their
> > learning C book. It is the best beginner's intro to C for
> > microcontrollers I've seen.
> > Paul
> > DS wrote:

> > > Hi
> > > I am interested in learning microcontrollers. I am taking a course

> in

> > > electronics in Feruary that will teach some microcontroller

> subjects

> > > programming in C and some C++, but will be covered more in 2006. I

> also plan

> > > to do some hobby stuff including robotics.
> > > It looks like Parallax has heaps of educational materials and

> support for

> > > their BASIC Stamp products. The excellent resources appeal very

> much to me.

> > > The only potential problem I see with this, though, is that it uses

> BASIC