[time-nuts] Good (cheap) PIC chip choice for project?

Chris Albertson albertson.chris at gmail.com
Sat May 25 13:55:34 EDT 2013


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 at extremeoverclocking.com> wrote:
> I've decided I finally want to tackle learning how to use a PIC chip for some smaller projects. Can someone recommend me a good (and
> cheap) PIC, and possible some literature (be it a book or website)? I have a fairly recent willem eprom programmer that I'm hoping I
> can use.
>
> I don't know what all the features PICs have, but for my first project I would like to have it connected to a serial port on one of
> my Soekris' where it can grab info (i.e. the current time, or NTP/GPS info) and output that on a little LED display.
>
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-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California


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