On Mon, Aug 15, 2005 at 11:48:17AM +0200, Wouter van Ooijen wrote:
> > By the way, to me the 16F 18pin parts are now legacy parts 
> > already since
> > the new 16F parts are all low cost 8/14/20/28pin standard 
> > flash parts. :)
> > So please do not recommend 16F628A any more to new hobbyists. :)
> > Instead please recommend PIC18F or dsPICs.
> 
> I do not agree completely. 

Debate! Debate! ;-)

> 
> A big argument for newbies is the amount of webinfo for a chip. Sadly,
> the 16x84 still rules in this aspect.

It's very sad.

> The 16F628(A) and 18F877(A) are
> viable alternatives.

I'd add the 16F88 into this list too.

> 18F info is still scarce.

Very scarce. And the dsPIC is worse. Does anyone have knowledge of
a page that describes a simple blink-an-led for the dsPIC? I haven't
found any assembly info on the part at all (other than the datasheet).

> There are no low-price/low-pin-count 18F chips. Many hobbyists want
> their designs to be low-cost. This definitely points to 12/14 bit cores.

The 18F1330 and 18F1320 are 18 pin parts. They are $5.38 USD according to
digikey. Still cheaper than a 16F84.

Generally hobbyists are one-off type folks. A couple of dollars isn't
going to make that much difference on a part.

> Maybe an 18F could be used as learning tool (but I would not recommend
> this), but not a 30F.

I don't think there's a good 30F tutorial yet. Also personally I'm leery
of being tied to Mchips 30F C compiler.

> When one realy needs the power of the 30F's IMHO there are better
> choices, like the various ARM chips.

Do ARMs come in hobby friendly packages? The dsPIC 30F3013 is available in
a 28 pin DIP package. And especially for hobby use, packaging is important.

BAJ
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