Joseph Bento wrote:
> Sigh....   Admittedly, everything I've done in C for baseline PICs has
> involved flashing LEDs.

Why are you focused on the baseline PICs?  The instruction set of a PIC 18
is only slightly more complicated, but easier to use because of simplified
banking, LAT registers, pointer registers the full width of the address, and
other niceties.  It sounds like this is for one off hobby use, so it doesn't
matter if the PIC costs $3 or $5.

Get a handful of 18F2620 and don't look back.  These are availale in the
hobbyist friendly 28 pin DIP package.  You can wire up the circuitry to make
one go on a protoboard, or you can get something like my ReadyBoard-01
(http://www.embedinc.com/products/ready01) that takes care of the
infrastructure and gives you a place to add your own circuit.

> While I do not wish to abandon my desire to
> learn C, perhaps I should concentrate in learning assembly as people
> seem to suggest.

You don't have to abandon C, just wait until you know enough of the basics
so that you are ready to add the complication of a compiler.  Think of
assembler as a prerequisite for learning C on small microcontrollers.

> It's unfortunate that any
> past attempt has found assembly to be exceedingly frustrating -
> perhaps from lack of proper descriptions to what is happening with the
> instruction.

PIC instructions are all well documented in the data sheet for whatever PIC
you are using.  You can ask here if you have specific questions about
something you don't understand in the datasheet.  For example, "What is
banking" is a stupid question that only merits a RTFM response at best, but
"On page 39 is says ... but the diagram on page 40 ..." will have people
falling over each other to help you.

> Among the books I have is, "Easy Microcontrol'n" (formerly Easy
> PIC'n).  I'm not sure what to think.  It seems a bit hard to follow
> along.

The only book that matters is the data sheet.  It does assume you have a
general understanding of microcontrollers and computers at the low level,
but all the PIC specific details are in there, and they are well written.

As for how to get the general introduction, I don't know.  I learned this
many years ago in high school by reading the equivalent of the PIC datasheet
for a PDP-8.  I did have to read it a few times, each time something new
made sense because of something learned the previous pass.  But I had all
Easter vacation, and by the end I could write programs on paper, hand
assemble them, then toggle them in on the front panel.  Fortunately for you,
experimenting is a lot easier with MPLAB.  The simulator is a great tool for
trying out pieces of code.  You don't even need a real PIC to get the basic
concepts.

> Many of the beginning tutorial sites concentrate on the 16F84.

That's usually a sign of the clueless leading the blind.

> So, I need direction (a kick, perhaps?) to get me started in the right
> direction.

Most PIC web sites are put up by idiots who are so thrilled that got a PIC
to do anything after four weeks of random poking, they want to show it off
to the world.  There's a reason it took them 4 weeks, and you don't really
want to pick up their bad habits and misconceptions.

However, occasionally someone that actually knows what they are doing does
write a tutorial.  I sortof remember there were two reasonable ones.  If I
remember right, David M(?) wrote one, and I forget the other.  I don't have
links to either, but I'm sure others will chime in with them.


********************************************************************
Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products
(978) 742-9014.  Gold level PIC consultants since 2000.
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist