There seems to be unlimited information available about them on the internet. Much of the software and all of the information is free to download. Regardless the size of your order, they treat you like a customer. There are lots of other business's that support them on the internet as well. Whatever you want in the PIC world is available from some one at a reasonable cost (small markup + postage) via the net. For about $200 Picbook.com will fix you up with a very professional textbook, college course & lab board. Try applying these questions to TI or Motorola products! If you are thinking AVR, check out the "Butterfly". It is a terrific bargain at $20 from Digi-key. http://www.digikey.com/ John Ferrell http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 9:02 AM Subject: [OT]: Why PIC? I have a really stupid question to ask, but it's been bothering me for a while so I'll just ago ahead and ask it: Why is the PIC uC so popular? When I look at the specs of the competition, I see nothing but seemingly better products. Now I don't want everyone to get mad.. please. I'm simply a lowly computer science student who is still very new to this little hobby.. and I've only ever used PICs, so I really can't compare fairly. But the things I see are: AVRs and SXs are much faster w/MIPS, offer things such as lots of SRAM, etc. Are PICs cheaper? Is it because there are just so damn many to chose from? Is it because they are simpler to understand, so many engineers learned on them and still hold them dear? Is it because they have such a huge base of code/developers already and the momentum keeps them going? I guess the main thing I see is that these other uC's have such an awesome MIPS advantage... so why not use them? Are they more expensive? I don't know why I'm asking this because the answer is probably a combination of all of the above. But I keep wondering if there is one huge advantage that I'm not seeing. Anyway, just a thought. -- 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