Piezo Speaker Circuit Basic Stamp Homework Board - Noob!

Ormia

Hi there,

First off, I'd like to admit that I am very new to using microcontrollers and hope to learn from the expertise that I'm sure exists on these forums. I have the Basic Stamp homework board and am currently using it in my lab at school for the piezoelectric speaker application. However, I would now like to transfer the circuit onto a permanent breadboard so I don't have to keep using the homework board for that purpose.

My first question is how does one go about deciding if one microcontroller can replace another? The homework board uses the pic16c57 but how can I tell what other microcontrollers can also be used for the piezo speaker application? Where should I focus on when looking at the data sheets?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin Wood

For a very simple circuit, just about any microcontroller can replace the purpose of another. However, when switching microcontrollers, most times it will be necessary to redesign & re-program your project. This is because of differences in the built-in hardware of the micros, as well as the software available for programming.

For example, while the HW board uses the pic16c57 for the controller, the pic is actually running the Parallax PBasic interpreter. So if you replaced it with an unprogrammed pic, it wouldn't work. You would need to redesign your project. And although you can buy a pre-programmed pic to use on a breadboard, you would need all of the additional circuitry to support it to make it a Basic Stamp. In a nutshell, you have to consider pretty much everything, and the end result is thousands of microcontrollers to choose from.

However, if you want to move your project to a breadboard, you can do that with one of the Basic Stamp modules. You would still need a way to program it, which means building or buying a cable for it, as well as the required components for the rest of your circuit. Another option would be to use an OEM Basic Stamp kit, and just assembling the parts on a breadboard. You could also contact Parallax and see if they'll sell you a single HW board, or you could look at getting the Basic Stamp Activity Kit, which is built around the HW board. And of course, there are other microcontrollers to choose from, depending on your needs & budget.