> > What to do? > My little contribute on this topic by an "eternally beginner" (sorry for my shaking English..) I agree with the most part of James mail. Actually, IMO, "EE" part is quite good, "OT" are often too many, "PIC" are decreasing considerably. I came in the PICLIST some years ago, no electronics knowledge, nor micros. I was searching for a low cost dataloggers for temperature monitoring ( I was interested in Caves exploring and research): a my friend, an Italian electronic specialist, suggested: "why don't try to build yoursef? There are the PICs..". I searched the WEB and found the "TLOGGER" by Stan Ockers, an useful tutorial about a very-basic temperature logger but quite good for my requirements. I had a VERY great support, suggestions and patience from Stan (thanks Stan, even if I have lost you..) and other PICList members. I learned a bit of ASM programming and many others things, starting from . I'm very pleased to this List even if actually I make little plans and don't have to share much knowledge to others. Possible Solutions? >From my point of view, expand the focus on other processors may be one (good) of the possible Idea: even if I will continue to use the PIC, other processors may get projects ad ideas that one can implement in other environments. For example, some weeks ago I was searching for a Turbidity Meter project and I found this one based on a AtmelMega32: http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ee476/FinalProjects/s2005/jsa25_jyh25/TurbidityMeter.htm It seems not very difficult to implement with a PIC, moreover it also contains other useful information that aren't strictly related to a specific processor: a lot of similar cases are on the Web. At last: I prefer the Mail form, but also a forum isn't too bad. regards Marco ------------------------------------------------------ Passa a Infostrada. ADSL e Telefono senza limiti e senza canone Telecom http://click.libero.it/infostrada -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist