Dan, If there is only one valuable thing I have learned in my life it is
this: You cannot succeed without experience and you cannot gain experience
without failing.

Caring
    Trying  ---------- NO
      | Failure        |
      NO--> Experience V
                 Success

... and since, as this diagram clearly shows, failure is a necessary step
which can not be avoided on the road to Success, Justin, my best advice to
you, at this point, is to fail as often and as memorably as possible (with
out damaging others, of course).

James Newton, webmaster http://get.to/techref
(hint: you can add your own private info to the techref)
mailto:jamesnewton@geocities.com
1-619-652-0593 phoneÊ



-----Original Message-----
From: pic microcontroller discussion list
[mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Dan Creagan
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 1999 7:40 AM
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: newbie conflicting


I started to respond to this one with a great deal of information that
essentially has been covered (probably better) by others.

However, I watch people approach learning things like this (almost like
this) on a regular basis and my approach is to always believe them when they
say they are weak in an area.  In this case, I believe you when you say you
are weak in programming skills and have no background in electronics. The
surest path (IMHO) would be to go the Stamp route. A Stamp is fine for
beginning and for follow on. I still use them - one is running a test cycle
on a motor controller on my bench right now.

When I'm trying to do something for the very first time, I try to insure a
success.  I really don't think I could recommend someone to start playing in
PICs until they understood a little electronics and felt comfortable in
programming at least one high level language (besides BASIC). Justin, you
would find huge support for Stamps, tons of projects, and once you got it
all together, could move on.

If you are still not sure try this:

Get the book Programming and Customizing the BASIC Stamp Computer by Scott
Edwards, ISBN 0-07-913683-4 (hc). It is available in some libraries and it
costs about $40 or so if you want to buy it.  It goes through everything you
need to know to set up the Stamp and it will give you a feel for whether a
Stamp is your cup of tea.  It is a great starting point that will not cause
you to invest a bunch of money.  If you are still not sure, get the Easy Pic
'n book and compare the two.  You know what your capabilities are and you
should be able to decide after reading the two.

Dan

OK.. now for the wild card.  I could almost recommend the BasicX development
kit for a new person with no electronics background. It is VERY easy to get
going (as easy as a Stamp) but it has soooo much more going for it.
Unfortunately, it is not as well supported so you are on your own on most
projects. The cost is $49 and it is one of the best deals on the net.
www.basicx.com is the URL.