Denny & Byron, Thanks very much for the response. I understand that I am probably setting myself up with a handicap by using the 12f675, but that is what I have so I'm trying it out first. I fully intend to explore many of the other features of the different PICs and I have all the time in the world, so I'm taking them one-at-a-time. Since I'm in a robotics club (www.chibots.org) I will be getting into PWM for motor control soon. After I get this project operating I intend to try another (different) PIC. Another response I got suggested using a ZTX transistor to drive the IR LED. I believe that to be Australian or European. Does anyone know what would be a good substitute available here in the states. Once I get comfortable with assembly, I will probably swing over to a version of 'C' which I used to do career wise about fifteen years ago. Of course there will be a significant relearning process but I look forward to it. I had better not drag this out. Again thanks for the response and looking forward to communicating on the list more in the future. Best Regards, Tom Byron A Jeff wrote: On Tue, May 03, 2005 at 04:02:36PM -0700, Tom Wrighton wrote: > Hello All, Welcome Tom. > I'm a newbie, hobbyist, nonprofessional and retired. I make these > declarations up front so you might take my query with a grain of salt. Must be nice. Hope you are enjoying it. > I?m still working on my 1st PIC project, though at this point I feel I have > learned a lot (for me anyway). I bought a PICkit-1 after seeing it at one of > our robot club meetings. As many of you know it comes equipped with a > 12F675. I have become obsessed with using it for my project idea, and also > to program it with assembly language. Both the part and the language could be problematic if you're obsessed with it. > [Snip of the issue. To much to do, not enough time. ] > The best I can do so far is 32 and a fraction KHz. > At this point I am wondering if I need to use a crystal osc. And run it at > 10 MHz instead of the 4MHz of the internal? I have followed the PICLIST > for several months and am very impressed with the expertise and > graciousness of the membership. Well that's certainly kind of you. Using the crystal could help, and losing the two I/O pins won't kill your project in this case. > Up front: any and all comments and guidance you might > offer will be greatly appreciated. Well back to the obsession thing. I've been pointing out to members on this list that using hardware can simplify the life of beginners. And I'm always told that it's too complex. Your case is a perfect example. The PWM module on other PIC chips are the perfect set and forget tool required to get your job done. A 16F88 would solve the job easily with just a simple setup of the peripheral. A quick poke around the pickit description doesn't point to any parts that has PWM built it. Finally on the language thing. Learn enough assembly so that you can communicate ideas with others in it. Then consider higher level languages simply because they facilitate setting up things faster. Good luck on your project. And remember that PIC hardware peripherals such as the USARTS, PWM/CCP, ADC/comparators, and the timers really are your friends. BAJ -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist