BASIC Stamp Good Investment in Time?

i went there, ordered 7 free chips, sweet :P do you use pic catman?

sorry, pounded out 18f and didn't check, it's a 16f877a. the a version has the samples, as opposed to the plain 877, there's 6 different types with samples offered, various packages n stuff.

I started with PIC's, but I switched to AVR's. The reason I switched is because I prefer to program in BASIC instead of C (I really hate C). BASCOM for the AVR is free with 2K program limit or under $70 for a full version so it was cheaper than PICBASIC.

I like the AVR's and I think they will eventually surpass PIC's in popularity, but PIC's are still excellent chips with a lot of support. The PIC's have many things going for them. Myke Perdenko's book that I had mentioned earlier in this thread, free samples, free C compilers (if you like C), lots of people to ask for help here and in most robotics clubs...

Play with PIC's for awhile and then add an AVR to your Solarbotics order and give it a try. It is always good to know more than one way to do things.

ed wrote:

thanks for all the help, without you guys id be sitting in radioshack still not knowing they dont have anything useful there except the book "basic digital electronics" :P

Well i sent off for a free chip and when i got my confirmation on where it was been shipped from it was been shipped from Thailand so i dont know how much that is going to cost when it finally arrives, i just found out where it was been shipped from today and i about died when i found out :(

Free samples include the free postage. I suppose they are hoping you will buy from them eventually, so it is all advertising.

Just busy as heck trying to survive, I don't get the time to play on line much these days - I'm hoping to change that in the next few months though! I'm still out here and making robots! Actually, I'm teaching robotics at a local community college in my spare time from my 3 year old, my hobby and my day job (recent aquisition).

Bored? Impossible!

DLC

: Dennis Clark wrote: : > Ben Bradley wrote: : > : On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 03:17:50 GMT, "Chris S." : > : wrote: : > [snip] : > : >> Would it be a waste of time and effort learning uCs using BASIC Stamp? : > : > : If you're later going to use C, then yes I'd say the BASIC Stamp is : > : a waste of time. For one thing, compiled C code will run much faster : > : than the onboard (onchip?) interpreted BASIC. : > : Long story short, BASIC skills won't get you much further than : > : programming a BASIC Stamp, but C skills will get you lots of places. I : > : see BASIC as a dead-end street. : > : > Bah! There are very good Basic compilers for pretty much all of the : > micros out there. It is just another language. I prefer C, but others : > like Basic. Your language religious beliefs tend to make the choice.

: He LIVES!

: -- : (Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)

: Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web: :

Hi

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

1. GO here. This is a TOP site:
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2. Get their test board - the EasyPIC ( or stuff I recommend on my site
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   ).

1. 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
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   and get the book Easy Microcontrol'n (if you like).

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

5 Download a free evaluation version of their C compiler and IDE for PICs:

1. 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