Welcome to the list ! I'm sure you'll learn as much as I have.  This list
is the best thing since ice cream <g>. My background is accounting <blech!>
so everything electronic is new to me. Yes, I think MPLAB/PICSTART+ is a
good combination ( I must, that's the route I took <g>). There are also
some C compilers for the PIC that makes life a bit easier.  Although it's
not real popular with the Pros on the list, the CCS compiler's not a bad
deal at $100. It has bugs, but it still speeds code development for me.
There are also a few high end compilers out there, but I can't comment on
those. NT support was a welcome addition. I think I read here on the list
recently the MChip is working a full 32bit version of MPLAB at the moment.
Can't wait to see it .. it's obvious the current code was developed with
Borland C 3 or 4.

Good luck with your PIC projects !

Eric

Oh yeah, if you want more info on the CCS compiler, let me know.

On Saturday, July 03, 1999 4:16 AM, Steve Thackery [SMTP:steve.thackery@
BTINTERNET.COM] wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I don't know if you folks have a policy on this, but I thought I'd just
> mention that I've just joined the PIC List yesterday.
>
> I'm afraid it'll be more questions than answer from me, as I'm new to the
> PIC scene, and it's many years since I did any assembler programming!
>
> I've bought the PICSTART Plus programmer, installed MPLAB 4.12, and also
got
> hold of the "Project Board 2" from Bluebird Electronics, which looks
pretty
> good for testing out your circuits.  Yesterday I wrote my first MPLAB
> program (press a button, light a led) to check that the system is
working,
> and it seems fine.
>
> Some background about me:  I live over in East Anglia, England, and have
> worked for BT as an engineer for the last 26 years.  I've got a
background
> knowledge of electronics and microprocessors, and am computer literate (I
> run an NT4 workstation here at home).  I do some lightweight Windows
> programming using Delphi - sometimes know as "Visual Basic for grown-ups"
> ;-)  - which I think is an excellent tool.  Other hobbies include clock
and
> watch repair.
>
> I'll tell you about my only real PIC project to date another time: a
> PIC-based watch timer.  This was developed using a programmer and
software
> from Forest Electronic Developments.  Good gear, but I wanted to go to
the
> more industry standard MPLAB/PICSTART environment.
>
> In fact, that's my first question: was that a wise move?
>
> When I first tried MPLAB a few weeks ago I was gobsmacked to find you
> couldn't use PICSTART with NT4.  The Windows API for accessing the serial
> ports is the same between NT4 and W95, so heaven knows how Microchip
managed
> it!  Fortunately MPLAB 4.12 works absolutely fine with NT4.
>
> Sorry for the length of this note.
>
> Best wishes to all,
>
> Steve Thackery
> Suffolk, England.
> Web Site: http://www.btinternet.com/~stevethack/