> One thing that sorta bothered me starting out is that Microchip doesn't do a
> whole lot to give a newbie a push. Their programmer (PICStart) is pretty
> good but, their examples suck. You'd think that if they we're gunning for
> the mid to lower market, they'd do a better job of getting people hooked. In
> my business, we call this "OOBE" - or "Out Of Box Experience" - and theirs
> is really poor. If it weren't for this list, I'd probably walk away from
> this dream out of frustration.

That's because the newbie is of no interest to Microchip or any other
semiconductor manufacturer. They are a company set up to manufacture
components to be designed into products by the thousands, by
engineers skilled (?) in the art. General Motors don't teach you to
drive. Why should Microchip teach you to program ?
The PICstart, app-notes, etc are there to demonstrate features and
hopefully persuade engineers to choose their part for the next
design.
The hobby market has grown out of their low volume pricing and
distribution methods. It gives them a lot of press so they benefit
from it, but that's far from their core business.

I didn't intend this to sound like a flame. - Sorry if it came out
that way.

If you really are struggling you might want to look at the Basic
Stamp. It is very good stepping stone and is intended as a learning
tool. It's also quite handy to have around.

I agree about the OOBE thing. I've been trying to beat that into the
heads of marketroids for years.

Steve.
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Steve Baldwin                Electronic Product Design
TLA Microsystems Ltd         Microcontroller Specialists
PO Box 15-680, New Lynn      http://www.tla.co.nz
Auckland, New Zealand        ph  +64 9 820-2221
email: steveb@tla.co.nz      fax +64 9 820-1929
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