Olin,
Veroboard (at least in the UK), is a form of fibreglass/composite
material board with parallel copper strips running down the length and
pre-drilled usually with 1mm holes, though I have seen other sizes in
the past.
Ideal for transferring your masterpiece directly from your "Protoboard"
to a more permanent home.


-----Original Message-----
From: Olin Lathrop [mailto:olin_piclist@EMBEDINC.COM]=20
Sent: 10 February 2003 13:25
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [PIC]: DIP Prototyping - any concerns?

> How else does one prototype ?  If I had to etch a board for every
prototype
> I would never get a single project finished ;)

I don't know what a "Veroboard" is, but maybe that's a different trade
name for what was call "Protoboard" when I bought some.  These have
strips
of sockets on .1 inch centers wired together.

Yes, I use them for quick and dirty testing.  The biggest problem is not
noise, but the limited circuit complexity that can fit without using way
too many Protoboards.  I have had PICs running with 20MHz oscillators on
these many times.  There is a template project including photograph at
http://www.embedinc.com/pic/hos.htm.

> 1) By default, most PIC port pins are inputs until configured
otherwise.
If
> you are not going to use the pins, and are not going to set them to
outputs
> in code, then it is best to terminate these pins to prevent stray
noise
> interfering with the port pins.  Obviously, this is inconvenient when
> prototyping, but should be a given on any final design.

I use a system where each I/O pin used by the project is explicitly
declared in the project include file.  This is done with the /INBIT and
/OUTBIT preprocessor commands, in conjunction with the standard port
initialization code in the PORT module.  The preprocessor, PORT module,
and all the related stuff is available at http://www.embedinc.com/pic
for
free.


*****************************************************************
Embed Inc, embedded system specialists in Littleton Massachusetts
(978) 742-9014, http://www.embedinc.com

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList
mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu