After sending this to the author, I thought some other PICers may be
interested too, so I'm also sending this to the PICLIST.

----------------------------------------

Ok - here's my 0.02c.

I too teach computing, and I work in a Science Teaching facility training
Laboratory Technical Officers in such things as interfacing older ICPs,
HPLCs, etc to newer software.

I've got a VERY FULLY DOCUMENTED, simple, introductory program that uses 7
LEDs and a PIC16C84 for you (the 16F84 is just a slightly expanded 16C84,
the code will work in either).

 <<flashy.zip>>
The schematic (included) CAN be dropped straight onto a bread board and the
.asm file will compile first time (with MPASM). A second, undocumented
version of the .asm file is included to show how arcane and unreadable
undocumented code can be.

You mentioned lack of familiarity with electronic components, so I should
mention that the power supply for a PIC has to be pretty reasonable if you
want it to drive loads reliably. PICs WILL blow up if you go above 6 volts,
and they will die of heat stroke if you run them continuously near their
power limits.
My circuit drives up to 7 LEDs at a time, each at 15mA, approaching the
120mA limit for the '84. The simply power supply shown is also near its
limit too. What this means is that the circuit will work well for years and
years so long as it is turned off to rest for several hours after about 1
hour's use; - it is a DEMONSTRATION circuit, not a reliable product.



        <snip>

        I would like to build a small circuit that would
        be similar to a BASIC stamp 1. Something which I can
        connect to a 9v battery and then program in ASM to
        turn 8 different LEDs on and off (or anything really).

                I know Don McKenzie answered my original
        post in comp.robotics.misc with a link to his dt203.
        But I don't want something I have to order, I want something
        I can build on a proto board and which has ONLY what I
        asked for above. Just a very simple circuit that I can plug
        my programmed PIC16f84 into and then press a push
        button switch to run the program press again to reset.


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