FW: [sdiy] microcontroller selection! (fwd)

[Trevor Page]

'lo

Just thought I'd chip in here and say that I have been having a
brilliant time lately with the PIC 18F series devices, a Microchip ICD2
and MPLAB C18 compiler. 

In my new job I was assigned the task (or rather, I begged them to let
me do it, instead of them getting a design house to do it, because I was
so pissed off with pen-pushing in an 'engineering job') of designing a
rather sophisticated piece of comms gear, which included a nice user
interface with large 1/4 VGA LCD, GPIB, etc etc. At the heart of it sits
an 18F series PIC, 'cuz that's what I madly decided to use. And it
actually bloody works. Works very well. 

This was the first time I had to design a relatively complex commercial
product around a microcontroller, and in a very short time too, so I
simply had to develop the firmware in C. This was especially important
since it enabled me to just copy and paste NI's supplied C drivers for
the GPIB device, and the same applies for the Epson LCD device C
drivers, and so on. I had never used C much before, so had to learn
fast. As a die-hard assembly programmer someone who was always hated the
idea of using C on a microcontroller, I was pleasantly surprised at how
enjoyably easy it was to get into with the C18, and how efficient it
seems to be, especially on the 18F core which is supposed to be
brilliant for programming in C. It's totally amazing (for me at least,
even if nobody else gives a sh*t) to see my PIC based control unit
communicating to the outside world through a GPIB interface (which is a
surprisingly complex thing) using C drivers that were developed on a PC
platform. 

The Microchip C18 package evaluation can be downloaded and it'll last
for 30 (or 60 - cannot remember) days. Keep reinstalling it and you get
to use it forever for free.. 

Still prefer assembler though for extremely simple thing, such as MIDI
applications, etc. 

I haven't a clue if this post is at all relevant to the thread because I
have a short attention span, but I wrote it anyway. 

Oh yes. That was why. Just wanted to comment that the C18 evaluation
version can be made to work forever. Worth considering if you want to do
C on a micro. I acknowledge that AVRs do generally seem to have the edge
over PICs, but I think Microchip have greatly improved things with the
18F core. I hear people say that the PIC architecture is old/crap. I'd
be interested to know what those people think specifically of the 18F
core. 

Cheers

Trev




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl 
> [mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of Neil Johnson
> Sent: 09 August 2003 19:44
> To: synth-diy
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] microcontroller selection! (fwd)
> 
> 
> Bret,
> 
> > You must love those Amtels!  You recommended them for my 
> other project as
> > well! :-)
> 
> I've used various microcontrollers over the years, and I've 
> really come to
> like them.  PICs are ok, but its such a wacky architecture it 
> is difficult
> to write good compilers for them (they'e got better in recent 
> years, but
> still).  AVRs were designed to be easy to write compilers for 
> them, which
> appeals to me :-)  There is a port of the GCC compiler that 
> targets the
> AVRs, which opens up lots of free, industrial-strength 
> development tools.
> 
> The 8051 is a venerable old design, and I've got a C compiler for them
> too.  But the prices tend to be a little higher, and they are 
> geared more
> towards traditional command-and-control applications (industrial
> controllers, etc).
> 
> The BASIC Stamp is a good little module.  Used them myself to 
> control, for
> example, video cameras for experiments.  Very easy to knock together a
> prototype system.  But I wouldn't use them for a production product as
> they are quite expensive.
> 
> These may be your best option, as they are smaller than the 
> OOPics, and as
> you say there are plenty of resources out there.
> 
> > I suppose that's my fault for making such a fine and polished
> > "prototype". :-(
> 
> Yeah, stop it!  Prototypes are supposed to look like someone 
> sneezed in a
> parts bin, not a finished item :-)
> 
> Cheers,
> Neil
> 
> --
> Neil Johnson :: Computer Laboratory :: University of Cambridge ::
> http://www.njohnson.co.uk          http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~nej22
> ----  IEE Cambridge Branch: http://www.iee-cambridge.org.uk  ----
> 
>