Need some advice on starting working with PICs

site:www.edaboard.com easy microcontroln

If I wanted to start with PICs which PIC is good for beginners?
For programming in PIC Basic is there free compiler?
Any links, oppinions and literature will be appreciated.

Start with PICs

Depends upon your programmer. Because all the programmers don't support all the PIC specially 18 series.

Most people suggest PIC16F877. But I always support PIC18F4620. Because it has most of the features available and you can order free DIP sample. Also cost effective.

Compiler- you will get great discussions (with 150 or more replies) on this topic in this forum discussed several times before. JUST YOU NEED TO SEARCH.

Re: Start with PICs

Hai

Start with PIC in assembly using MPLAB(Free).

Search the board for e book on PIC. Lot of books on board.










Assembly first and the move on to C.That is my opinion


picstudent

Start with PICs

what language you use should be decided based on your experience with programming. If you have used C, go for that. If assembly, go with that. If little programming, then BASIC. I like assembler since you learn the chip archiceture much better but PIC assembler is unforgiving due to the clumsy clumsy architecture of the PIC. not for beginners.

There are several very good PIC tutorials out there. Google is your friend...

Re: Start with PICs

try www.piclist.com

Re: Start with PICs

Does anyone have experience with PICAXE?
How PIC and PICAXE are related to each other?

Re: Start with PICs

hai

As far as I know..

PICAXE is a preprogrammed PIC microcontroller ,in which something like a bootloader is preprogrammed by the vendor. You can use this micro as any similer PIC microcontroller but you will have the added advantage of programming via a cable from PC.No programmer required.

Go to www.microchipc.com (This is not microchip )

you can also create something like a PICAXE microcontroller using the bootloader posted there..

I havent used PICAXE .So correct me if I am wrong.

picstudent

Re: Start with PICs

This PICAXE looks quite interesting ..

Here you can find all info you need to learn about it, including free BASIC compiler:
**broken link removed**
Also, have a look at:
**broken link removed**

Regards,
IanP

Re: Start with PICs

As I am new to PIC family I haven't deceided which PIC to choose and still looking at the PICAXE option.
I have some experience with 8051 and for some applications will be looking for PICs with similar power and for small projects for "small" PICs.
Can you tell me which of hundreds of PICs is the most reasonable choice?

Re: Start with PICs

Hai

My opinion...

Start with PIC16F877A...

More I/O means ,easy programming (in a way!!!)

Purchase or construct (Only depends on time available and budget) a programmer with ICSP support So that each code change can be easily tested in target..

Start doing as in 8051..

first LED,then Seven segment ,then LCD and so on...

picstudent

Re: Start with PICs

C is by far the most widely used language for micros because of its portability.
This is because porting it from one processor to another is fairly easy. If you spend a lot of time writing something in assembler and then decide to change to a different chip, you have wasted a heap of time. If you do it in C from the start, it's
much easier because you can get a C compiler for just about any micro out there.

A good PIC to start with is the 16F877 or 18F45X.

Re: Start with PICs

Electronic999 said:

If you spend a lot of time writing something in assembler and then decide to change to a different chip, you have wasted a heap of time. If you do it in C from the start, it's
much easier ...

Click to expand...

I am afraid I have some reservations about that.

To concentrate on MCU work it may not be a must in all cases to be a assembly expert.You can very well concentrate on C for all your tasks.

But..

Starting with assembly will never be a time wasted in case of picmicro because you will directly interact with PIC hardware and will be aware of what is happening with your code. But in case of C you need not have to go into details.

So in my opinion do some basic tasks in Assembly and then move to C . That assembly view point will defenitly benifit the C programmer in you later

picstudent

Re: Start with PICs

Gee comparing with 8051 PICs have at least 80% of instructions missing???
I am not sure if for simple applications I shouldn't try PICAXE.
They cost almost the same as PICs and even newbie like myself can write a program to turn LED on an off in <30seconds.
Can someone provide links or share experience in PICAXE?

Start with PICs

Are there any Pic Basic Books pdf or website
?

Start with PICs

which pic is simplest to program
or how can we have simplest pic programmer
I have good programmer for 51 series and memories.
but i donot have one for PIC so I am still illerate in PIC

Re: Start with PICs

Any of the PIC 16F family is simple to program because all have the same instructions set (35 instructions) and the memory structure similar. The 18F family has more instructions (75 instructions) but has a better memory structure.

The simplest programmer (hardware) available to build yourself is the "JDM" programmer (search in Google will bring a lot of variations and circuits, but always based in the same principle: PC serial port powering the programmer). JDM uses few parts (and easily available) and combined with ICPROG or WINPIC800 provides you a very cheap and effective PIC programmer.

Start with PICs

you can visit picvietnam.com to leant anymore about pic

Re: Start with PICs

Well, it really depends on your budget and if you really want to learn how to use a picmicro the easy way..... If you are completely n00b on the subject I would recommend to start the way many of us did. Use the now obsolete 16f84a, and a book by david benson Easy PIC'n (now Easy Microcontrol'n....maybe some kind soul has uploaded it to the forum). There are also lots of tutorials on how to use the 16f84 on the web.
There are two main reasons i still recommend the 16f84...and not a fully loaded pic with everything exept the kitchen sink, like in math ... solve the dead easy problems first, then go to more complex ones with more variables. same thing here, the 16f84a has such a minimal set of features that you can start to work on it right away, and in a day or two you have already done your first projects there are no analog devices to disable or unknown cryptic features. Also any programmer has support for it, you can even build a dead easy programmer such as the NOPPP. Once you get the feeling on how it works, you can migrate on to a better pic such as the 16f628 or 16f877, just need to learn to disable the analog comparators, A/D converters etc.....

It seems some of us forget how overwhelming can info on datasheets be during the first tries, specially if you have alot to read with no inmediate results, and how amazing was to simply blink a led for the first time.

just remember, the 16f84a is no longer recommended for a production enviroment mostly because it lacks alot of features compared to its new counterparts and its higher price, but it can give you a good jumpstart on how to program a pic.

From there the world is yours, but remember... start with the basics.

Re: Start with PICs

DrWhoF said:

If I wanted to start with PICs which PIC is good for beginners?
For programming in PIC Basic is there free compiler?
Any links, oppinions and literature will be appreciated.

Click to expand...

FREE BASIC COMPILER upto 2K

**broken link removed**

On line tutorial

**broken link removed**

Which PIC ?

Start with 16F628A, then 16F877A and then 18Fxxx

Cheers

Ravi

Re: Start with PICs

does JDM support 16F877

thanks,
Salma