Hello Matthew.  I'm just a beginner too.  And this is a great and very =
friendly group.  They are very helpful for when you get stuck.

I'm curious, at what stage are you? Why are you curious about pics?  Are =
you starting from scratch, or do you have some things already?  Are =
there things you have in mind you want to build? =20

I'll tell you how I got here, which isn't far, as it might help you.  I =
got an ARobot as a present.  Also a friend of mine had told me about his =
playing with microcontrollers (Cygnals) and I realized that there was a =
whole new world that I didn't know about. =20

After a little research I realized that the Basic Stamp was WAY too =
expensive and from a little research on the web I gathered that PIC's =
were the right choice.

So I got the PICKit demo board/programmer that came with a 12F675. A =
cool 8 pin chip, I think.  It was a great setup to learn how to program =
the chip and a bit about the hardware.  I had to learn some debugging =
techniques, but it was cool. I learned PIC assembler, how to use MPLAB, =
and to find problems using the SIM debugger.

My particular problem was that I needed to communicate with the robot.  =
So after a long time I put together a bit-bang (software implementation =
of a communications protocol) program that would communicate with a =
Basic Stamp, but it only kinda-sorta worked.  But I was frustrated =
because I was spending all my programming time on the protocol.

Now remember, I was really ignorant, and had no one to ask for help (and =
didn't know about this group yet).  I wanted to play with programming =
other PIC's and so I wanted a new board.  Remember, the PICKit is great =
because it simply plugs into the USB port on the PC.  So I thought all =
things worked that way, and so I bought the ICD2.  So imagine my =
surprise when I got it and couldn't figure where to plug in the chips! =
(-:  Whoops.

So when fixing that mistake (by ordering the PicDem4) I made another =
one, which I won't talk about.  Suffice to say that I now have the =
PicKit, the ICD2, the PicDem4, and the PicDem2+.  (Boy did I get yelled =
at when that bill came in.)

But!  To be able to debug the chips in real time is really nice, and all =
the software is free.  I've gone hardcore (for learning purposes) =
assembler, so I won't touch C or Basic for the now.

At this point for me, I'm just learning about sensors, which for me is =
requiring a lot of study on the electronics end of things.

I'll tell you the books I have.

Getting Started in Electronics
        Forrest M. Mimms, III
        Great beginners book on electronics.

Robot Building for Dummies
        Roger Arrick
        This one got me started in all this.  Very well written book.

PIC Robotics
        John Iovine
        Good, robotics based, and the code examples are in basic.

PIC Microcontroller Project Book
        John Iovine
        Same as above.

Serial Communications Using PIC Microcontrollers
        Roger L. Stevens
        Most excellent if you are doing communications.  Fat and=20
        full of examples.

Programming and Customizing PICmicro Microcontrollers
        Myke Predko
        Everything you want to know about pics from A to Z.
        Well done, thorough, well written. The best one I have so far.


Hope this helps you make better choices.

Cheers,=20
Lindy



> -----Original Message-----
> From: pic microcontroller discussion list
> [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of Matthew Shoemaker
> Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 23:37
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: [PIC:] Beginner looking for suggestions
>=20
> Hello, I was wondering if anyone could give me suggestions as to
> were to
> start learning about pics?  Any software to help, websites,
> anything?  I
> have not be working with electronics much, but am hoping to get
> back
> into it.  Because of this I also would like ideas of where to
> start in
> my journey back into the world of electronics.  Thanks!
>=20
> Matthew
>=20

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=20

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