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A discussion group for the PICMicro microcontroller. Also called the Microchip PIC, this list is dedicated to the use and abuse of this fine, simple, microcontroller. Close to topic posts are welcome, ie. general electronics.
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best beginner book?? - Bryan - Sep 27 19:24:00 2002
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My son, age 13, wants to learn about PICs. He barely knows what they are, but a friend of his was talking about them. I only literally know what they are. We have learned some electronics, and I am a ham radio guy. We do NOT know basic or any computer language. He has a pretty sizeable hearing loss and has some learning difficulties associated with that. However, when he is interested he can really work hard and learn. (He is in 8th grade and tests low on reading and writing and spelling, but is at a 12th grade level in science!) I would like to take advantage of his interest and expose him to some of this. Can you recommend a book, course, or kit that might be good? Thank you, Bryan Seattle wb7nxc |
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Re: best beginner book?? - Aaron Morris - Sep 27 23:00:00 2002
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Hi Bryan, There are several different compilers that you could program a PIC microcontroller with. The first is by using the Microchip Assembley language which can be downloaded from http://www.microchip.com ... next you could go for a 'C' compiler, there are a few different ones but these will cost you extra. Lastly there is a Basic compiler called picBasic (I've not used it) which will also cost extra. There is lots of information available on http://www.piclist.com ... It's a great site! To get started I'd recommend going to an electronics store and getting the PicStart Plus package that has a microchip programmer, manuals and compiler. I notice your in Seattle there is an electronics store called Active over in Bellevue, they will have it there. Once you have the programmer you can decide on a chip. the pic16f84a is pretty popular and has flash memory that can be erased from the programmer. Some other chips require a U.V eraser or are one time programmable. As for books I would recommend 'Programming and customizing PicMicro Microcontrollers' by Myke Predko .. It pretty much is the bible for programming PIC's. Hope this helps you Aaron Bryan wrote: My son, age 13, wants to learn about PICs. He barely knows what
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Re: best beginner book?? - Craig Gardner - Sep 28 11:14:00 2002
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Another option for books are the Easy PIC'n series from Square 1 http://www.sq-1.com/ If you want to get going programming in Basic take a look at http://www.basicmicro.com/ They have a basic compiler and also sell the Atom which is a PIC programmed in basic you can buy the modules they have 24, 28 and 40 pin modules available or you can just buy the interpreter chips and save a lot. Craig > Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 00:24:31 -0000 > From: "Bryan" <> > Subject: best beginner book?? > > My son, age 13, wants to learn about PICs. He barely knows what > they are, but a friend of his was talking about them. I only > literally know what they are. We have learned some electronics, and > I am a ham radio guy. We do NOT know basic or any computer > language. He has a pretty sizeable hearing loss and has some > learning difficulties associated with that. However, when he is > interested he can really work hard and learn. (He is in 8th grade > and tests low on reading and writing and spelling, but is at a 12th > grade level in science!) I would like to take advantage of his > interest and expose him to some of this. Can you recommend a book, > course, or kit that might be good? > > Thank you, > > Bryan > Seattle > wb7nxc |
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Re: best beginner book?? - Sadler Porter - Sep 28 11:04:00 2002
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My recommendation would be to look for a Basic Stamp 2 starter kit or BS2 Board of Education. They run about $100 - $150 maybe a little more. It comes complete with a book, download cable, basic compiler that is pretty easy. Examples for every command in the book. Built in debug command allows you to do some thing with no additional circuits. I.e. build and run a program that displays on the PC screen our counts and displays count etc.
As a side note the SB2 is built from a PIC chip so your starting in the right direction for later. Basic language is a good easy start, Assembly language and “c” are easily learned later without trying to grasp too many concepts are one time. Just my opinion..
Check out www.parallaxinc.com Also check out b...@yahoogroups.com its based on the stamp and appear to be a lot more active than this list
-----Original
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Hi Bryan, There are several different compilers that you could program a PIC microcontroller with. The first is by using the Microchip Assembley language which can be downloaded from http://www.microchip.com ... next you could go for a 'C' compiler, there are a few different ones but these will cost you extra. Lastly there is a Basic compiler called picBasic (I've not used it) which will also cost extra. There is lots of information available on http://www.piclist.com ... It's a great site! To get started I'd recommend going to an electronics store and getting the PicStart Plus package that has a microchip programmer, manuals and compiler. I notice your in Seattle there is an electronics store called Active over in Bellevue, they will have it there. Once you have the programmer you can decide on a chip. the pic16f84a is pretty popular and has flash memory that can be erased from the programmer. Some other chips require a U.V eraser or are one time programmable. As for books I would recommend 'Programming and customizing PicMicro Microcontrollers' by Myke Predko .. It pretty much is the bible for programming PIC's. Hope this helps you Aaron Bryan wrote: My son, age
13, wants to learn about PICs. He barely knows what
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Re: best beginner book?? - john - Sep 28 15:14:00 2002
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I would not get the book Programming and customicing PICmicro microcontrollers by Myke predko that someone recommended. I bought This book and it has a lot of info but it wouldn't be very good for a beginner especially at 13 years old. I would recommend starting with the basic stamps. These are little modules that have the Pic microcontroller and the needed interface parts already built into the package. This way you wouldn't need to know a lot about electronics to get something to work. Also the basic stamp programming language would be a lot easier to learn then C or the machine language for the PICmicro's. --- In piclist@y..., Sadler Porter <porter.sadler@s...> wrote: > My recommendation would be to look for a Basic Stamp 2 starter kit or BS2 > Board of Education. They run about $100 - $150 maybe a little more. > It comes complete with a book, download cable, basic compiler that is pretty > easy. Examples for every command in the book. > Built in debug command allows you to do some thing with no additional > circuits. I.e. build and run a program that displays on the PC screen our > counts and displays count etc. > > As a side note the SB2 is built from a PIC chip so your starting in the > right direction for later. > Basic language is a good easy start, Assembly language and "c" are easily > learned later without trying to grasp too many concepts are one time. > Just my opinion.. > > Check out www.parallaxinc.com <http://www.parallaxinc.com/> > Also check out basicstamps@y... > <mailto:basicstamps@y...> its based on the stamp and appear to > be a lot more active than this list > -----Original Message----- > From: Aaron Morris [mailto:aaron_morris_2000@y...] > Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2002 12:00 AM > To: Bryan; piclist@y... > Subject: Re: [piclist] best beginner book?? > > Hi Bryan, > There are several different compilers that you could program a PIC > microcontroller with. The first is by using the Microchip Assembley > language which can be downloaded from http://www.microchip.com > <http://www.microchip.com/> ... next you could go for a 'C' compiler, there > are a few different ones but these will cost you extra. Lastly there is a > Basic compiler called picBasic (I've not used it) which will also cost > extra. There is lots of information available on http://www.piclist.com > <http://www.piclist.com/> ... It's a great site! > To get started I'd recommend going to an electronics store and getting the > PicStart Plus package that has a microchip programmer, manuals and compiler. > I notice your in Seattle there is an electronics store called Active over in > Bellevue, they will have it there. Once you have the programmer you can > decide on a chip. the pic16f84a is pretty popular and has flash memory that > can be erased from the programmer. Some other chips require a U.V eraser > or are one time programmable. > As for books I would recommend 'Programming and customizing PicMicro > Microcontrollers' by Myke Predko .. It pretty much is the bible for > programming PIC's. > Hope this helps you > Aaron > Bryan wrote: > My son, age 13, wants to learn about PICs. He barely knows what > they are, but a friend of his was talking about them. I only > literally know what they are. We have learned some electronics, and > I am a ham radio guy. We do NOT know basic or any computer > language. He has a pretty sizeable hearing loss and has some > learning difficulties associated with that. However, when he is > interested he can really work hard and learn. (He is in 8th grade > and tests low on reading and writing and spelling, but is at a 12th > grade level in science!) I would like to take advantage of his > interest and expose him to some of this. Can you recommend a book, > course, or kit that might be good? > > Thank you, > > Bryan > Seattle > wb7nxc > > to unsubscribe, go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and follow the instructions > > > ">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > _____ > to unsubscribe, go to http://www.yahoogroups.com > <http://www.yahoogroups.com> and follow the instructions > > ">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> Terms of Service. |
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Re: best beginner book?? - Roberto Gomez - Sep 28 18:53:00 2002
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From Argentina the other side of the world, I approve that said by Aaron, especially with respect to the book of Myke Predko Roberto ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bryan" <> To: <> Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 9:24 PM Subject: [piclist] best beginner book?? > My son, age 13, wants to learn about PICs. He barely knows what > they are, but a friend of his was talking about them. I only > literally know what they are. We have learned some electronics, and > I am a ham radio guy. We do NOT know basic or any computer > language. He has a pretty sizeable hearing loss and has some > learning difficulties associated with that. However, when he is > interested he can really work hard and learn. (He is in 8th grade > and tests low on reading and writing and spelling, but is at a 12th > grade level in science!) I would like to take advantage of his > interest and expose him to some of this. Can you recommend a book, > course, or kit that might be good? > > Thank you, > > Bryan > Seattle > wb7nxc > > to unsubscribe, go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and follow the instructions > > ">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ |
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Re: best beginner book?? - Craig Gardner - Sep 29 14:27:00 2002
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While the Basic Stamp is a good product I personally feel the Basic Atom
from Basic Micro is far superior some of the reasons being: 1. Much faster about 10 times faster than the BS2 2. Built in hardware a. Hardware pulse width modulation once set it continues until you stop it (the basic stamp does PWM with software so you can only put out PWM when you aren't doing something else) b. USART which means the hardware can handle receiving serial transfers and has a buffer. the stamp must be ready for data or miss it c. 10-bit analog to digital converter 3 to 8 channels depending on the chip 3. Greatly expanded command list it has all of the BS2 commands and more including commands to access the onboard hardware. 4. If you want to use interpreter chips the BS2 requires a serial eeprom, The Atom is a single chip saving money and Time of assembly. 5. New commands can be added or bugs fixed at any time the basic stamp can not be changed. These are just a few things to consider you should check out you choices carefully programs can be easily converted from the BS2 to the Basic Atom there have been some issues with compatibility most of which have been due to the much greater speed of the Atom and they have been fixed. I you are considering the I would suggest the OEM Atom because you can just pull the interpreter chip out and put it in your finished project and replace the interpreter chip in the OEM Atom at a cost of about $22. Craig > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 12:04:41 -0400 > From: Sadler Porter <> > Subject: RE: best beginner book?? > > My recommendation would be to look for a Basic Stamp 2 starter kit or BS2 > Board of Education. They run about $100 - $150 maybe a little more. > It comes complete with a book, download cable, basic compiler that is pretty > easy. Examples for every command in the book. > Built in debug command allows you to do some thing with no additional > circuits. I.e. build and run a program that displays on the PC screen our > counts and displays count etc. > > As a side note the SB2 is built from a PIC chip so your starting in the > right direction for later. > Basic language is a good easy start, Assembly language and "c" are easily > learned later without trying to grasp too many concepts are one time. > Just my opinion.. > > Check out www.parallaxinc.com <http://www.parallaxinc.com/> > Also check out > <mailto:> its based on the stamp and appear to > be a lot more active than this list |
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Re: best beginner book?? - larrwill202wl - Sep 30 7:17:00 2002
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I would agree with the posts suggesting the Stamp etc., but would recommend the OOPic. The OOPic uses a pic chip and is superior to the stamp in every way except for code base. The OOPic is also the most bang for the buck starting at $39 and the software is free. The software will let you program in Basic, C, or Java. http://oopic.com/ |
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