[rescue] microcontroller stuff

[Dave McGuire]

On November 20, Bill Bradford wrote:
> If I wanted to start playing around with microcontroller stuff, would 
> you guys recommend the Basic Stamp gear, or something else?

  I'd start with PICs, man.  They're really easy to interface, really
easy to program, and very well supported.

  Basic Stamps are neat, but are wimpy compared to a PIC...even though
the processor in Stamps is either a PIC or a PIC-compatible Scenix
chip, depending on the model.

  I'd say pick up the Microchip PICstart kit and a copy of the CCS C
compiler.  That will get you everything you need to not only get
started, but also do pretty much anything you'd ever want to do with a
PIC.

  If you do go the PIC route, I have one piece of advice: Never forget
that there's more to life than the 16F84.  That's one chip, and not a
very impressive one at that, in a line of dozens upon dozens of
different PIC chips, and all the folks in construction project
articles and such seem to treat it like it's the only one out
there...when in fact it's one of the less capable chips in the PIC
family.

          -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL