[sdiy] Most common ICs

[rsdio at audiobanshee.com]

I agree with the complaints that the PIC is not perfect. However, they fill a very important price versus performance niche. Sure, they're slower than other parts, but they're also cheaper than faster chips. They've been around longer, so it's easier to find documentation and example code. Again, not perfect, but many companies do much worse.

If you can get by with Cortex-M0, the STM32 starts as low as $1.45, but the Cortex-M4 starts at $2.77

However, if all you need is an 8-bit processor, then PIC10 can be had for $0.51, PIC16 for $0.58, and PIC18 for $1.92

I've only ever designed with SMD PIC, so I never noticed whether DIP packages are cheaper.

To get back to the original question, I recently designed around the PIC18F24K50. If you're considering USB and need a bit of GPIO, that chip looks like a good price.

On the other hand, if you absolutely need a 32-bit processor, I wouldn't be surprised that PIC is not necessarily the best choice. Just be mindful that you don't always need a 32-bit processor, because price points drop if you look at 8-bit.

Brian Willoughby


On Sep 19, 2015, at 12:28 PM, Richie Burnett <rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk> wrote:
> No probs here either.
> 
> -Richie,
> 
> ---- Pete Hartman wrote ----
>>> On Sat, Sep 19, 2015 at 4:43 AM, Gordonjcp <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 10:40:37PM +0100, Tom Wiltshire wrote:
>>>> I'd probably have to agree. TL07x op-amps would be my most used IC. Not very glamorous, but they're the glue that holds a million audio circuits together.
>>>> 
>>>> Aside from that, PIC uPs for digital, and SSM2164/V2164 for analog.
>>> 
>>> I've never liked PICs.  They're slow, expensive and very hard to develop for, thanks to the sheer lack of support - and last time I looked you had to pay extra for surface-mount!
>>> 
>>> I used AVR for a bit but I'm moving over to STM32 - ridiculously cheap and ridiculously fast.
>> 
>> This must be a personal taste thing, as I have no problems at all programming with PICs.  The documentation is very good, and there are lots of examples to get over the most difficult part which is how to set the various switches (in AVR world the equivalent is the "fuses").  I've actually had more frustration figuring out how to set fuses, to be honest.  I haven't played with the STM32s, I'll certainly have to give that a try.