All, My 2 cents worth on this subject is.. With todays lineup of PIC's, and as has been mentioned already,the fact that todays line are flash based, any one of todays available PIC's would be a good choice to start with. The possible exception would be=20 the 32 bit versions which have departed totally from the PIC's legacy internals. Not that the 32 bit units=20 aren't good. They are just less compatible in the software they use versus the older PIC versions. =20 My personal favorite is the 16F88X series (16F887 Specifically). These have supplanted the 16F877, and are=20 far better equipped than the 16F84 or the 16F628. Most of the projects I work on, either my own or contracted, use the 16F887. In my book, it is the one to use as a jellybean processor. But, this is my preference. I speak for myself only. If anyone disagrees with my assesment, so be it. But the 887 is the part I like. It is a good starting point due it having so many peripherals, it has a good amount of Flash program store, EEPROM, and RAM, it is easy to write for, and for those HLL fans, it can be programmed in C, BASIC, or JAL. Add to this the low cost, and ready availability, and you have a=20 part that is destined to be used for anything from lab equipment to personal projects, to home automation, to industrial controls, etc. =20 If you're going to use a PIC to start out with, the 887 is a good choice. But it is only one choice. Virtually any PIC in the lineup is a good choice. It really depends on what you ultimately want it to=20 do, and what peripherals you want to learn, and in which sequence. The coice is yours. =20 Regards, Jim > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [PIC] Today's equivalent of 16F84 > From: John Hansen > Date: Mon, July 25, 2011 10:10 am > To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." >=20 >=20 > The 16F84 was the "go to" chip because at that time most of Microchip's > controllers were EEPROM technology which had to be erased in a UV eraser. > The flash memory in the 84 made it a no brainer for people to start with. >=20 > Now of course, all new chips are flash and there are a wide variety of ch= ips > that one could start with. The 16F628A is a very good choice, although > there is no A/D converter on it so you might do better with one that allo= wed > you to explore that as well. I teach a class in Microcontroller developm= ent > at the local university and I use the 16F690 because it has a fairly full > range of peripherals, but it's also cheap and can be programmed with the > inexpensive PicKit programmer. >=20 > There are those who would argue that these days it would better to start = out > with the 18 series. My current reason for not doing that is that the > instruction set in Assembly language is more complex and I want to start > students out with something simpler. However I am in the process of > re-thinking this. >=20 > John Hansen >=20 > On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Charles Craft = wrote: >=20 > > Microchip's large offering of PIC's is a blessing and curse. > > > > What is today's equivalent of a 16F84 for beginners? > > A couple years ago I would have said 16F628 but assume something has > > replaced it as the "jellybean" PIC. > > > > thanks > > chuckc > > > > > > > > -- > > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > View/change your membership options at > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > --=20 > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .