On Mon, Mar 22, 2004 at 11:02:10AM -0500, Denny Esterline wrote:
> There's lots of ways to do this and it's hard to call one "right" or
> "wrong". But here's the advice I wish someone gave me when I started:
>
> You can do a lot with a breadboard and a bootloader,

Amen!

> true you need a
> programmer to load the bootloader from scratch but there are several
> options available including the PG2c from Olimex for $13US including
> shipping. (BTW it can do ICSP also)

I've gotten good reports with my Trivial Programmers and ic-prog for Windows.

Trivial Programmer: http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys
ic-prog: http://www.ic-prog.com/main.html

I'm in the process of packaging my latest version of picprg. But I haven't
added 18F support yet. Once I do, I'll recommend the Trivial Programmer
and picprg, since I now have a Windows port going.

>
> There are plenty of good- free bootloaders out there to get you started
> (Wouter's and the one at www.microchipc.com come to mind) and plenty of
> options for programming languages. Of course Microchip's MPLab is free so
> you can work in assembly, but there's also JAL, and several 'demo' versions
> of other compilers that are perfectly suitable for getting started.

Agreed.

>
> As for the chip, I'd probably recommend starting with the 16F87x family.
> Not that it's better or worse than anything else, just there seems to be
> more example projects on the web and in books and magazines. You should be
> able to get some free samples direct from Microchip.

I may actually debate that in this instance. The OP made it pretty clear that
he was aiming for a high level language target. As such the beefier resources
of the 18F family, including a real stack with push/pop instructions, would
support HLL development better than the 16F family.

I do agree on the examples, but using an HLL makes it pretty much chip
independant. If using JAL, just use JAL examples for the most part.

>
> I hooked my brother up with an outfit like this last Christmas.
> New breadboard $25
> 9V wall wart/7805 regulator $3
> max232 / caps / db9 connector $5
> Olimex programmer $13
> Serial cable $4
> Some resonators / crystals and discrete from my junk box.

Nice. Must have been a big breadboard.

>
> Total cost about $50, less if you already have some of the parts. He had
> blinking lights about 45 minutes after opening the box.
>
> Good luck
> -Denny

BAJ

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