I wanna learn!!!

RFWhacker

OK- I'm SURE that this will not be·a simple answer... I am an old school electronics dude. Yea. Tubes- remember them?? Anyway, I would like to get up to speed with PIC microcontrollers. Quite simply, would anybody like to surrender thier time to mentor a newbie into the life of PIC's? I know almost nothing about them- except of course, yes I use them both in my professional and hobby life when they are complete in a nice box with connectors on the outside that I just plug in to and make stuff happen. I want to go 'inside the box' and come out..... Any takers?
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Paul Baker

Hi nerdy newbie, while your desire is admirable, you're asking the wrong crowd. This forum is dedicated to the Propeller chip made by Parallax. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have about it, but we can't help you with PICs. There are other forums that are dedicated to PICs if you are determined to learn them.

Take care,

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Paul Baker


Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 1/27/2009 1:24:13 AM GMT

Mike Green

First of all, you need to understand that "PIC" is a particular line of microcontrollers manufactured by Microchip. Although Parallax does use one model of the PIC to build their BS1 and BS2 Stamps, Parallax uses a different microcontroller (SX by Scenix) to build the other models of their Stamp series of microcontrollers. Parallax also sells the SX by itself and supports it. Parallax also designed and sells their Propeller microcontroller. You will need to utilize Microchip's support tools to learn about the PIC. If you want to learn about Parallax's products, there's plenty of information available here. Go to the main Parallax webpage and click on the Resources tab. Under that, "Nuts and Volts Columns" will take you to the index and they contain lots of information ... go browse there. From "Downloads", select "Stamps in Class Downloads" and browse through that list of titles. "What's a Microcontroller?" is a good starting point.

For the Propeller, there are several tutorials and manuals available as well.· Browse the main Propeller webpage and the links from that.· Also, there are other tutorials in some of the "sticky" forum threads at the top of the thread list in this forum.

Baggers

also, be very careful in which PIC you chose, they are more manufactured for specific purposes, which is why there are soooo many, and beware, most have bugs, look in errata for that chip, some don't do serial properly.
so maybe you came to the right place, if you want to learn,
I'd say get a Propeller, it's THE most fantastic all around chip you can get IMHO.
it's quick and easy to learn, it has lots of support from not only Parallax, but this fantastic forum is full of great and wise people, who give great help.
there are also lots of objects ( programs pre-written to do specific tasks like I2C, TV displays, VGA displays, EEPROM, SD, SPI, Keyboard, Mouse, pretty much everything to help you get started ) in the object exchange.

either good luck over at OTHER place, or welcome to the fun with the propeller [noparse]:D[/noparse]

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http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

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Cluso99

Valves are just Fets with pilot lights

Anyway, if your job entails the PIC then I guess that is where you should be. But, if you decide on the Propeller route (have a look at it anyway) you will have no end of help in this fantastic forum

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Links to other interesting threads:

· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators (Micros eg Altair, and Terminals eg VT100) - index
· Search the Propeller forums (via Google)

My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz

RFWhacker

Thanks for your info so far- My mistake- I (in my mind) for some reason classify what the Propeller does as a PIC, (this would not be the first time that I have used a specific term as a generalistic one) as from what I am reading is incorrect- thanks for the correction- hopefully I have not insulted anbody :-) At any rate,· yes it is the Propeller functionality that I am looking for more info on, and will use the reply's listed above as a starting point.


Thanks to all,
Mark

Project5k

Nerdy newbie -
I'm almost in the same boat you are.. i'm just learning myself.. one thing that really helped me get my head wrapped around the propeller was to read the book (PDF) about it. It will show you things about the chip itself, and the language that you use to program it. I ordered my prop, lcd display, and all of the rest of the parts that i need for my project on friday. when they get here, my plan is to just go through the examples in the book, and then make modifications to the program examples to see if i really do understand.

I'm one that learns best by doing, so while i'm absorbing the information from the book, once i can get my hands on it and actually make it do something, even if it is only blinking led's for now, everything will sink in much better.

If you really wanna learn the prop, i would suggest ordering one of the boards that has the prop, v-regs, and stuff like that already on it, get a few led's and a few resistors, and get after it. I really cant see any way better to learn it for less than $50.

dandreae

We have the Propeller Education Kit that comes with the "Propeller Education Kit Labs: Fundamentals" text which will·explain the setup, testing, I/O, timing,·methods, cogs, objects, counter modules, and circuit applications.· Here is a link for more information:·

http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerProgrammingKits/tabid/144/CategoryID/20/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/415/Default.aspx

Dave

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Dave Andreae

Parallax Tech Support·

ElectricAye

Nerdy,

if you want to learn about microcontrollers, the Propeller and this forum are the perfect place to start. The people on here are awesome!