Hi John I really appreciate your insight on the Fxxxx parts and the 300 or more older parts too. My project that is 20 years old was designed around the C54 which is way out of date. I am using the F1847 because it works great under the PICKIT3 and I will be using the MPLABX with it to. I have alot of things I want to do with this part but I would like to play with the 24F and bigger parts too. but for right now I want to make this work and move on from there. Thanks Michael Johnston On Mon, Aug 22, 2016 at 6:01 PM, John J. McDonough wrote: > On Mon, 2016-08-22 at 16:45 -0500, Michael Johnston wrote: > > > [clip] > > > I have download MPLABX > > but I haven't really played with it that much as its really different > > than > > the MPLAB 8. ide. > > MPLAB-X is different, but once you get the hang of it, it is a whale of > a lot better. I struggled for a bit, too, but now MPLAB-8 seems crude. > > > I dont see that C is really useful for Fxxxx parts > > except the newer ones that are optimized for C like the 16F1847 part > > which > > is an awesome part! > > I never cared for C on the 16F parts, but on the 16 and 32 bit parts it > is a huge win. There never was a truly credible C compiler for the 8 > bit parts. But xc16 and xc32 are ports of gcc, which is kind of the > gold standard for C compilers. > > And the dsPICs, PIC24s and PIC32s are so capable and getting quite > cheap. Not only are they fast, and some offer crazy amounts of memory, > but the peripherals keep getting more diverse and more capable. And > with the xc compilers, you can hop between families and hardly notice. > > I know the 8-bit peripherals have been improving too, but some of the > peripherals are amazing. The A/D on some of the 16-bit parts can walk > and chew gum, and some parts include op amps so you can condition your > analogs without extra parts. The CLC sometimes lets you get away > without external logic, and the CTMU can replace buttons with a PCB > pad, besides measuring capacitance, pulse width, etc. Most of these > parts are arounf two or three bucks in the U.S. Sure, a PIC32 with a > *MEG* of program memory can run you ten bucks, but if you need it you > can hop from a PIC24 to a PIC32 without breaking a sweat. > > For the hobbyist, as much as I used to like the 8 bit assembler, > spending all that time just to save *maybe* a few cents on the > processor just ain't worth it. > > Go out and spend the big bucks on something like a dsPIC33EV256GM102, > ok, kind of an expensive part, but WOW. Just having all that > capability. But in reality, a PIC24FV16KM202 will do most projects and > it's only two bucks last time I looked. And you can hop between them, > and various other choices with more/less memory, different peripheral > complement, driven only by what your project needs. > > The newer parts, and the xc compilers, give you a lot more ease of use, > a lot more capability, and the price difference isn't really visible > for a hobbyist. Leave the 8-bit parts to the guy who needs to save > every penny because a penny times a million copies is, well .... > > --McD > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .