> My question pertains to the use of other microcontrollers.
> Why is the MicroChip PIC controller so much better than other =
> controllers like ATMEL or ZILOG? Is there an application that would be =
> better suited to one of the other manufacturers? I am kind of new to the =
> microcontroller world and I see that there are quite a few =
> manufacturers. On what grounds do these companies compete? I really just =
> want verification that I have gotten lucky and chosen the best =
> controller out there.
> Thanks in advance,

The Microchip PIC series of controllers is excellent because the people at
General Instrument a few years ago were trying to produce a dirt-cheap micro
as simply as possible and as it happened the simplicity of their micro's
design resulted in a micro which (in modern forms) is both very fast and
generally straightforward to program.

The PIC is essentially the only micro in its price range which can easily run
5,000,000 "normal" instructions per second; even slightly-higher-end micros
such as the Dallas Semiconductor 80C520 IMHO don't quite (though with the
80C520 it depends what you define as a "normal" instruction).  For applica-
tions where execution speed is critical, the PIC is a winner.

The PIC also has a tendency to be available.  Surprisingly, while Microchip is
nowhere near as large as Motorola Semiconductor and all of Microchip's CPU's
are single-sourced, it seems that Microchip parts almost never go on alloca-
tion and they are easy to get.  Digi-key is sometimes out of certain PICs, but
it doesn't take long for them to get more.  By contrast, HC05's can sometimes
be on allocation for months.

The PIC's primary limitations currently fall in two areas as I see it:

[1] Addressing modes: while the IRP/RP0/RP1 arrangement of the 16Cxx is about
    as good as a 14-bit instruction format could allow, it does divide the RAM
    of the PIC into rather discrete pieces.  Also, the existence of only a
    single index register makes operations such as memory-to-memory copying
    difficult.

[2] Development systems: while PIC compilers are definitely improving, as yet
    none has achieved anything near the quality and stability of some compil-
    ers for the 8x51 which /just plain work/.  Hopefully this situation will
    improve.