> to use c as the programming language, I have
 > to be using a PIC18 or higher, and with PIC16 or lower, I must use
 > assembly.

No.
You *can* use C or assmbler (or Basic or Pascal) with any of them.

 > but I don't yet grasp the difficulty
 > of driving a Hitachi HD44780 16 char x 2 line display in assembly.

No realy problem. And it's a such a common task that there are
a lot of examples. Here is one (mine) :
http://www.jescab.se/HD44780.html
Well, it's in assmebler and swedish, but anyway... :-)






On 2010-08-11 19:54, Todd Lyons wrote:
> Hello all, I'm a linux sysadmin, but originally an EE by education.
> I'm very technical and have a decent to thorough understanding of c,
> perl, shell scripting etc, and anything server and network related WRT
> to TCP/IP.  I tend to tell people "just google for it" and have a low
> tolerance for stupid questions.  In general, my goal for PIC is
> hobbyist level, but you never know, this knowledge may result in side
> work or projects for others.
>
> I bought a PIC dev kit from Microchip with the ICD2 back in 2003, but
> never did anything with it other than (accidentally) blank the demo
> chip while twiddling with things.  I put it in a box and never touched
> it again.  Now I have a project I want to do, and the PIC seems
> perfect for it.  My project is straight forward: I want to make a
> powered ventilation system for my attic (i.e. turn a fan off and on
> based on temperature, and display the status to a user).  I know, I
> know, you can buy those for not a whole lot of money from Lowes or
> Home Depot or any number of sites on the net.  Well, what would I
> learn doing it that way?  I'd much rather go through the struggles of
> doing it myself and learn in the process.
>
> That being said, I'm looking for guidance (and trying to keep the
> stupid questions to a minimum).
> 1. From what I can tell, to use c as the programming language, I have
> to be using a PIC18 or higher, and with PIC16 or lower, I must use
> assembly.  Yea or nay?
> 2. In my project, I will need a display of some sort, a relay output,
> a few buttons, a remote temp sensor, and maybe a pot (or could use
> buttons to move target temp up/down).  I don't have the means to
> design and build my own board, but when you make a project, do you
> typically use some prefab board?  I have found a few that seem to be
> useful and reasonably priced, but I'm just googling. I thought you
> might have some specific recommendations.  (I think
> http://microcontrollershop.com/product_info.php?cPath=3D112_160_197&produ=
cts_id=3D583
> is possibly exactly what I need, but I don't yet grasp the difficulty
> of driving a Hitachi HD44780 16 char x 2 line display in assembly.)
> 3. I'm interested in using piklab and gpasm/gplink under Linux, but am
> willing to use the MPLAB IDE if I have to.  My limitations are that I
> just don't know Windows like I know Linux.  Any recommendations or
> experiences would be welcome.
> 4. Book recommendations are welcome.  I also expect that online
> tutorials and others' documented projects will be great teaching
> tools.
>
> Part of my personality is that I'm impatient.  I want to do things and
> make big dreams now!  So I'm working on learning first, and not just
> trying random stuff :-) (which is what I typically do).
>
> TIA and HAND!
--=20
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