I think there should be a FAQ entry for these "what to start with" questions that says to get a PICkit 1. A lot of the people on this want to do everything cheap (not just inexpensive) with duct tape, bubble gum and baling wire. I started with the PICdem kits a couple years ago and think they were over $100. At only $36 for the PICkit 1 skip lunch a few days or since there seem to be a lot of beer drinkers on the list, cut back a few pints. You get a PIC (albeit a small one), a programmer, demo board with I/O stuff and working code for several tutorials. Change just one line of code in one of the tutorials and you get that sense of accomplishment that it's all doable. It goes back to "investing" in good tools. My $.02 bubba -------Original Message------- From: Picdude Sent: 06/12/03 06:32 PM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: [PIC]: newbee, which chip to learn with? > > On Thursday 12 June 2003 15:56, Jan-erik S.derholm (QAC) scribbled: > I started with 16F84, switch to 16F628 rather directly. > I'm now targeting 16F628, 12F6xx and the 18-line. > Will *never* use a 16F84 again... If people keep dumping 16F84's on me for approx $0.50 each, I will use them. They still meet my needs for various odd things I do. But the last time that happened was 6 months ago. > The key to a smooth learning curve is rather simple, > *read* the data sheets. And I meen *READ* not skim. > Read it all, take your time. Using the "find" function > in the PDF reader is a fine tool to find references in > unexpected places, as PORTA stuff in the ADC chapter... IMO this is painful ... newbies want to see some results quick and without a full understanding of what can be achieved, the details aren't easily understood. I say, get working examples, run those so you can verify the dev environment and programming tools, then start reading the datasheet and seeing what things can be done. Mess with existing code and write some custom stuff then. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics