Pic or Basic stamp??

[nstaller]

What would be better to learn on?? Pic or basic stamp. I saw that Radioshack has a couple of different kits that teach the basics of a stamp, but I am not sure which would be better to get.I havent done any programming since I was a kid and then it was only in basic.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

Here is what I am looking at
http://www.radioshack.com/search.asp?find=basic+stamp&hp=search&SRC=1&image1.x=44&image1.y=39

[ZAGNUT]

go with the pic and learn assembly

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/talking/BASICvMC.html



dave

[lazy-b]

for a beginner I would highly recommended BASIC STAMP......its very easy to use, you can even teach kids how to use it, you do not have to be engineer to use it.

as you gain experience, you can always goes to PIC......sometimes, if you get hook to BASIC LANGUAGE programming, you would be lazy to learn PIC assembly language, you can always get a BASIC COMPILER.......most of my application, I use BASIC language, for those very critical application, I can use ASSEMBLY language.....in fact you can mixed Basic and assembly language.

BASIC STAMP is a bit more expensive, but I think its worth it, cause you concentrate more on problem solving, rather than learning how to programming it.

you may visit: www.parallax.com for all you BASIC STAMPS need.....all development software for BASIC STAMP is free, you just need to buy BASIC STAMP modules.

I usually development my proto-type in BASIC STAMP, once it working, I use a BASIC COMPILER and burn the code into PIC16F84, PIC16F877.

[clipclop]

Try Corechart for easy assembly :- http://www.elabtronics.com/products_cat_CoreChart.htm

[Jon Etheredge]

You might want to give consideration to the AVR microcontrollers from Atmel (http://www.atmel.com/products/avr/). They don't offer as many variants as Microchip does for the PICs but they have some very good parts. A good part to start out with for experimentation is the ATmega8. Other, smaller parts that have good features are the ATtiny13, ATtiny2313, and ATtiny26.

You will also need a programmer so you can load your firmware into the microcontroller Flash memory. The Atmel AVRisp programmer is very cost effective and is guaranteed to work since it is made by Atmel. You can by the programmer from Digikey for $29.00.

As far as programming language, the most popular language for embedded programming these days is 'C'. The AVR micros are optimized for programming in a high level language such as C and there is an excellent freeware C compiler available called WinAVR. This compiler is a port of the GNU C compiler and is not a toy. You can download WinAVR from Sourceforge at http://winavr.sourceforge.net/. Unless you are doing a lot of very low level bit twiddling, C will work fine.

There is a users forum and other info for AVR users at http://www.avrfreaks.org/. For hardware interfacing examples, you can use any of the PIC books with only very minor modifications.

[Acetronics]

Hi, nstaller

I think the easyest way ... is BASIC programming. the Stamp( parallax ) il good to play with, but very slow, THE tool is PicBasicPro or Proton ...stamp's ease of of programming and a real improvement in speed.and overall stamp basic compatiblity.

Assembler or C will be really more difficult to learn, if you do not know any programming languages.

Note there are no real "real time" limitations with picbasic, there are always tricks to do what you want. and you can add assembler lines in a picbasic program when really needed.

Alain

[jeffs555]

Like Joe said, you should really consider the AVR. The AVR executes one instruction per clock cycle, where the PIC takes 4 clocks per instruction. In most designs I have done, I looked at both the PIC and the AVR, and the AVR was always faster.

I would skip the basic stamp, and go directly to the AVR or PIC. There is a basic compiler for the AVR which is free for small designs less than 4k bytes. http://www.mcselec.com/bascom-avr.htm
There is probably one for the PIC also if you decide to start with that.

You may want to consider skipping basic and starting out with C instead. It is not that hard to learn. You should also try at least a little assembler, so you can get an understanding of what the micro is really doing.

Browse around www.sparkfun.com . They have cheap development boards and programmers for both the PIC and AVR. You can get a development board, and a programmer, for less than the price of one basic stamp.

Good luck,

Jeff

PS If you want to check out the AVR, www.avrfreaks.net is a great site. Atmel has a cheap eval board with an alpha-numeric lcd display on it that they call an AVR Butterfly. Here is one site that talks about it. http://www.dwelch.com/avr/

[lazy-b]

Guys: whats nice about learning BASIC LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING, you can use any microcontroller you want.

the BASIC-AVR, is such a powerful BASIC Language, its almost as powerful as Microsoft QBASIC use in our Desktop Computer.

Infact our PC, is just a HUGE BASIC STAMP using printer port as Input/Output Port. with Printer Port you can connect 8 Out and 4 Input....sometime, if I do not have BASIC STAMP, I just use PC for program development.

If you do not want to spend a single cents you may use your PC for program development. once its working, you can easily transfer it to BASIC STAMP.

[nstaller]

Thanks for everybodys suggestions. Clipclop, I like the simplictity of that program. I didnt mention what I was trying to do. I would like to be able to control my ROV and have information like depth,bearing and of course video displayed on my laptop. I dont really know which chip/language would get me there better.

Are the pic and basic stamps eeproms or eproms

[SlopeKing]

Um... Basic Stamp is an EEPROM, and so are some PIC's, other PICs are single use...

What you want to do sounds more like the job of an AVR, you can start on the ATmega16, you can go straight to prototyping, or use an AVR development board such as the STK500, should you decide you need more power, you can stick with the DIL pin package and get an ATmega32, or head for SMD and get an ATmega64.. (if you wish to use an STK500 with the ATmega64, you will also need the STK501 daughter board)