And I'm just a hobbiest.

On 8/11/2010 1:54 PM, Todd Lyons wrote:
> 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?
>   =20
Since you are familiar with C, it will do the job just fine. My biggest=20
problems are with C, what I'll call grammar.
> 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.
You should find lots of examples of everything you would like to do,
the main issues will be marrying stuff together, adjusting variable names
to match, etc.

> 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.)
>   =20
At the moment this is one of the issues I am working through.
> 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.
>   =20
MPLAB doesn't require special Windows knowledge, it installs easily and=20
isn't too bad to learn.
There is lots of help here on problems that might appear. I have a=20
PICKIT2 that works fairly well (I have recently had some issues , there=20
is a thread going for last 2 weeks, but seems to be a special case. I=20
allows programming and debugging without pulling the chip out of the=20
board. I also have a Microengineering EPIC parallel (printer port)=20
programmer that requires pulling the chip. I'm sure others will comment=20
in this area, there are other capable setups.
I can't comment on the Linux side.

For boards, I usually prototype one or 2 features at a time either on a=20
breadboard or on a PICPROTO18. Buy bare board, solder a few components,=20
has grid of plated through holes for prototyping. Then Design a board=20
using FREEPCB and have a few boards fabricated and solder the stuff when=20
they arrive. Sometimes for simpler stuff, I might etch the boards myself=20
either fro the prototype or final.
> 4. Book recommendations are welcome.  I also expect that online
> tutorials and others' documented projects will be great teaching
> tools.
>   =20
At the moment I'm looking for a C manual to go with the MCC18 compiler.=20
Seems some of the stuff like IFNDEF isn't covered well by Microchip, or=20
else, I just haven't found it. With MCC18 there are some examples, plus=20
application notes, and then there is Microchip Maestro that will help=20
build application code.
> 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).
>   =20
Start out with the blinking LED, and go from there. At least you know=20
that it's working. :) :)
> TIA and HAND!
>   =20
--=20
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