Jan-Erik Soderholm writes:

> Mcgee, Mark
> 
> > > - Since this circuit is not going in production and you do 
> > >   not need to worry about per-unit materials cost, consider
> > >   using one of the PIC18F chips.  They are not much more
> > >   expensive and *much* more pleasant to work with.
> 
> > Ok, I'll check them out.  What makes them more pleasant?
> 
> It depends a bit on the model, but in general :
> 
> - More program memory (flash) "per $".
> - The same for data RAM (GPR's).
> - More models are using the latest peripherials.
> - Easier programming due to a more "relaxed" page and
>   banking model.
> - "Better" instruction set. Usualy shorter code/fewer instructions
>    for the same task.

The biggie here is the banking.  Once your program grows in
complexity, the bank switching starts to become a major PITA.  You
don't need to deal with nearly as many pages/banks on the 18F series.

Now, all this said, I'm still planning to use a PIC16F in an upcoming
project because I need several hundred I/O lines which cannot be
multiplexed and using many multiple 18pin PIC16Fs with a 1-wire
interface is still the cheapest way to go.  That is, unless I can work
some magic and use the AtTiny28 (no SRAM, just the 32 working regs)
which would cut my uC costs in half.

-p.
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