A slightly different perspective...

As a rookie myself, I believe that the 16F84 is a great chip to
start with, because there are lots of sample projects/code out on
the web to pick things up quickly.  You can just copy, compile
and test, then experiment with the code. At a few bucks each,
cost isn't much of a factor.

And if they're becoming obsolete, then perhaps they're less
than a few bucks now?

Get a very simple 16F84 programmer or get one that will handle
16F84 + others you think you will need.  I built a simple Tait
programmer and there was a simple wiring difference to handle
the 16F872's when I started playing with those.

Good beginning info and books...
        http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist/begin.htm

Cheers,
-Neil.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Byron A Jeff" <byron@CC.GATECH.EDU>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 2:23 PM
Subject: Re: [PIC]: Please help rookie with these two questions


> On Sat, Mar 23, 2002 at 02:01:45PM -0500, Jim Martin wrote:
> > First:  What beginner's book do you recommend for entry level PIC
> > programming for the 16F84?
>
> It's best to skip the 16F84. Microchip has pretty much succeeded in
obsoleting
> it with the features and price of the 16F627 and 16F628 chips. It's better
> to start there.
>
> I don't have a book recommendation for you unfortunately. There are any
number
> of online tutorials that'll get you started. I'm partial to Myke Predko's
> online stuff. You can find a couple of introductory articles here:
>
> http://www.rentron.com/Myke3.htm
> http://www.rentron.com/Myke5.htm
>
> There are also several dozen other PIC related articles on the site here:
>
> http://www.rentron.com/pic.htm
>
> I'd like to add a couple of comments related to the 16F84 to 16F627/8
upgrade.
> First is that if the application isn't time sensitive (such as an
asyncronous
> serial interface) that the internal RC oscillator of the 16F627/8 preludes
> having to use an external oscillator or resonator. Next is that one must
be
> acutely aware that one of the best new features of the 16F627/8 is the
onboard
> hardware USART. This means that one doesn't have to implement software
UARTs
> by hand. I find that a lot of 16F84 tutorials spend a lot of time
discussing
> how to build software serial routines for RS-232. The next thing is that
> the 16F627/8 family along with the 16F87X family are low voltage
programmable
> so very cheap and simple programmers can be utilized to get started
quickly.
> My Trivial Low Voltage Programmer (TLVP) is a $10, afternoon project
that'll
> get you in the game quickly. Last on my list is that for programming
hardware
> USART the best software/tutorial going is Fr. Thomas McGahee's PICUART
code.
> I've seen problems dowloading it from his site
(http://mcgahee.freeservers.com)
> so I've made a copy available from my PIC site where the TLVP lives:
>
> http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys
>
> Also you can find a description os Myke's book "Programming and
Customizing
> PICmicro Microcontrollers" on his site at http://www.myke.com where he has
> a online chapter for your perusal.
>
> >
> > Second:  Is the 16F876 code-compatible with the 16F84?  Just wondering
if I
> > should start with the '876 instead of the F84.
>
> I think you can pretty much get a consensus not to start with the 16F84.
Yes
> the 16F87X series is code compatible with the 16F84 and will port over
with
> a very few caveats such as variable starting address and that PORTA starts
> in analog mode instead of digital mode.
>
> But starting with the 16F84 means playing catchup later. There's much less
of
> a jump from the 16F62X family to the 16F87X chips.
>
> Hope this gives you some insight.
>
> BAJ
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
> [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads
>
>
>

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads