>
> Then riddle me this batman...how does the real basic stamp do it????????????

OK riddler. The stamp restricted the number of variables.

Check out the specs: http://www.parallaxinc.com/stamps/modules.htm

The BS1 had 7 variables, the BS2 had 16. each 2 bytes but also byte addressible
so that you can get 2 bytes out of every word.

The chips they are based on, the 16C56 and 16C57, have 25 and 72 bytes of
data ram respectively.

They simply used what they had.

But the stamp was designed 5-6 years ago when that was all they had available.

Looking at Mchips offering right now, you have options including the 16C558
and the 16C622 which offer 128 bytes of RAM, and at the 192 byte level the
PIC16C6X series fills in nicely.

But again just simply moving to a 16F84 or 16F84A (which is in spotty
production right now) will bump you up to 68 bytes. And with the stamp
apparently occupying 11 bytes for itself then you'd have room for 14 variables.
It goes up to 58 for 128 bytes and 90 for 192 bytes.

BAJ