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

[Herbert Poetzl]

On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 07:48:08AM -0400, Bob Camp wrote:
> Hi

> At least with the newer versions ( the X stuff), they 
> really seem to want to see the PIC Kit 3.

As I said, it's a marketing move: the PICkit 2 was
declared obsolete after the main developer left
Microchip and the PICkit 3 was marketed as an
'improved' version, and all new software was geared
toward the 'new' PICkit 3, despite the fact that
it is inferior to the PICkit 2 in almost all regards

Recent updates to the PICkit 3 made it more and more
compatible with the PICkit 2 but it is still missing
certain features like the uart or logic analyzer.

Just google for a comparison (PICkit 2 vs PICkit 3)
to get an idea :)

Best,
Herbert

> Bob

> On May 25, 2013, at 10:20 PM, Herbert Poetzl <herbert at 13thfloor.at> wrote:

>> On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 10:04:59PM -0400, Bob Camp wrote:
>>> Hi

>>> If you are putting money into a Microchip programmer, I'd
>>> probably head over to the PIC Kit 3 rather than the 2. It will
>>> do debug as well as programming on the range of parts. 

>> Unfortunately the command line support is missing in the
>> PICkit 3, although there was/is an efford to make the 'new'
>> PICkit 3 compatible with the PICkit 2.
>> (as usualy, marketing decisions ... :)

>> And the PICkit 2 can do all the debugging the PICkit 3
>> does plus it can work as UART and Logic Analyzer as well.

>>> Having breakpoints and debug is a *good* thing.

>> Depends, using breakpoints and/or debug on time critical
>> stuff (like software PWM or UART) usually results in
>> unexpected results, more often it is simpler to add one
>> or more LEDs to display a state or do 'printf' style
>> debugging via serial (UART/I2C/SPI).

>> But as always, YMMV.

>> best,
>> Herbert

>>> Bob

>>> On May 25, 2013, at 9:44 PM, Herbert Poetzl <herbert at 13thfloor.at> wrote:

>>>> On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 08:46:03AM -0500, Jason Rabel 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.

>>>> Microchip has good product selection tools like this one:
>>>> http://www.microchip.com/maps/microcontroller.aspx
>>>> (note the plus signs on the right side of each section)

>>>>> 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.

>>>> Depending on the type of LED display you have in mind, you
>>>> want to have PWM capabilities (multiplexing) and high
>>>> current source/sink, as well as an (E)U(S)ART for the serial
>>>> communication.

>>>> A four digit LED display can be easily controlled by a
>>>> PIC16F1503 (price about 0.8 USD, 14 pins) and the required
>>>> documents are available on the Microchip site:
>>>> http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en553475

>>>> You can do the UART part in software for low data rates
>>>> or simply take the PIC16F1508/9 which already includes 
>>>> an EUSART (price about 1.3 USD, 20 pins)

>>>> One programmer for many PIC chips (8 bit to 32 bit) is
>>>> the PICkit2 which can be bought for less than 30 USD
>>>> (via usb, works fine on Linux and MacOS as well)

>>>> HTH,
>>>> Herbert

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