[sdiy] Retaining button state after power off?

[rsdio at sounds.wa.com]

On Feb 3, 2014, at 09:09, Justin Owen wrote:
> Thanks everyone - seems like a little micro is the way to go for  
> this job. Might let me replace most of my existing circuitry and  
> also potentially let me add some new features.
>
> I'll start looking at the ATTiny and PIC12F but anyone with more  
> experience in that area is welcome to suggest some other small/ 
> simple options.


Don't forget to look into the MSP430 from Texas Instruments. It has  
the FRAM that folks were talking about. I recently did a very quick  
project with it, and it was quite easy to get started and get some  
firmware working. The tools even have a graphical interface for  
assigning I/O pins, timer functions, clock settings, and other  
specifics. Very nice. Texas Instruments have kits that are priced  
like Arduino, so you can get started without investing a lot.

I have a lot of experience with PIC, but you might find the PIC18F  
series more hospitable than the PIC12F. I started a project with the  
PIC16F87, and it's basically required that you write in assembly. I  
have a feeling the PIC12 might be similar. The PIC18F has C language  
support that's better than some of their other 8-bit micros. Many PIC  
chips have EEPROM included as well as Flash, so you can write  
frequent settings changes to EEPROM.

Nothing wrong with ATTiny, they have EEPROM, but no FRAM.

Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting