Bryan The cool thing about the 16F's is that there are so many parts. You can pick and choose the feature set you need for a particular project. But for hobbyists, it doesn't make sense to stock dozens of different kinds of parts, so I think most folks settle on a small number. Undoubtedly the most popular of the 16F parts for the hobbyist is the 16F84. Many will disagree, but for someone just learning microcontrollers, I really like this part. However, because of the cost/capability, it really is a part to leave after your first project. The part costs several times more than other parts with much more capability. Once you get your head around how the thing works, almost any other part will be better for almost any other project. A lot of folks graduate to the 628. It is less than half the price of the 84, has twice the memory, and adds a comparator. It is a nice inexpensive part, but when you are doing one-off, saving a buck or two on the micro isn't such a huge deal. The biggest limitation of both of these parts is the number of I/O lines. A nice thing here is that the 16F87x parts are all very similar, give a choice of 2, 4, or 8K, and come in 28 or 40 pin packages. They also add analog, comparators, UARTs, etc. These parts are a little old, and their power consumption is high compared to some of the newer parts. Many hobbyist projects use the 877. If you are going to keep only one part in the parts drawer, this one has the most of everything, but it is relatively expensive. Also, the 40 pin package is large. One part I really like is the 16F88. This part still has the disadvantage of 18 pins, but the 4K memory is more than you can usually use in an 18 pin package, it includes analog, UART, comparators, and best of all, a fancy on-board oscillator. In the LF flavor, this part will run comfortably off a mercury coin cell, and with the on board oscillator, the developer has lots of options for controlling current consumption. And it's still cheaper than an F84. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be comparable parts with more pins. The 88 also lets you swueeze out a few more I/O's from the 18 pins, so it might be just ennough to squeak by in cases where the 84 won't cut it. And most of the time, 4K is practically unlimited memory. I've also played with the 818, 819, 716, and 648, which are also 18 pin parts. For the hobbyist, I can't see where these offer any advantage over the 88 save a slightly lower cost. For the hobbyist, I would think the LF88, 873, and 877 would make a nice comprimise set of parts. I'd rather see a 28 pin part with the 88's features, but until that happens, the 873 will have to do for those cases (most of the time) where 18 pins isn't enough. I suspect that it would be fairly unusual to have to resort to the big 877. Just my two cents. I bet others feel a lot different! --McD ----- Original Message ----- From: "BryanW" To: Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 11:52 AM Subject: [PIC:] Most used 16F devices > Hi, > > I have been looking at the 16F device programming specifications and notice > a number of differences in the algorithms. This lead me to think, which of > all the 16F's are the most used in peoples projects, there are such a > variety. > > Are there specific must have devices? > > I think I mentioned before we are developing a portable battery powered > PICmicro programmer, and was hoping to get a little more of an insight of > how the device has developed over the years. > > My knowledge is with the Atmel AVR device, and as I have been developing for > that beasty from the beginning, I know all of the past ISP pitfalls and > changes that have been made to the devices as the years go by, and > understand how useful it is to have that sort of info. > > Bryan > > Software Engineer - Embedded Results Ltd trading as www.kanda.com > > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.7.2 - Release Date: 11/03/2005 > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist