Serial communication with other PICs...
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I'm pretty new to stamping and microcontrollers, so I'm trying to find some
information on what would be best. I'm working on a project that is
basically a ethernet to serial adapter for use at work. I was going to use
the BS2 and Embedded Ethernet (www.embeddedethernet.com), but I'm going to
be making about a dozen units, possibly more, so thats about $600 for just
the BS2s.
So, I am thinking of buying a programmer and PicBasic compiler, but I'm not
sure which microprocessor would be best. I'd need 16 io pins for the EE,
plus whatever is needed for the serial hookup. Also, I'd need to able to
read the Clear To Send signal. What chip would be best? I don't really
know anything about them. I'm looking for something this is easy to use,
yet versitile, has a fair amount of EEPROM, and fairly cheap.
Perhaps a suggestion on a good book/website for dummies would help too. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Thanks a lot,
Ken Robertson
information on what would be best. I'm working on a project that is
basically a ethernet to serial adapter for use at work. I was going to use
the BS2 and Embedded Ethernet (www.embeddedethernet.com), but I'm going to
be making about a dozen units, possibly more, so thats about $600 for just
the BS2s.
So, I am thinking of buying a programmer and PicBasic compiler, but I'm not
sure which microprocessor would be best. I'd need 16 io pins for the EE,
plus whatever is needed for the serial hookup. Also, I'd need to able to
read the Clear To Send signal. What chip would be best? I don't really
know anything about them. I'm looking for something this is easy to use,
yet versitile, has a fair amount of EEPROM, and fairly cheap.
Perhaps a suggestion on a good book/website for dummies would help too. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Thanks a lot,
Ken Robertson
Comments
(Makers of PICBasic Pro) have selectors that allow you to put in your
requirements (I/O pins, memory, etc..) and will list the PICs that fill the
bill. The 2 major suppliers of PIC for us hobbyists are Digikey and Newark
Electronics, so you can just check their sites for prices. Professor
Anderson http://www.phanderson.com/index.html has some very good prices on
the most popular PICs.
Tim
[noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]
> I'm pretty new to stamping and microcontrollers, so I'm trying to
> find some
> information on what would be best. I'm working on a project that is
> basically a ethernet to serial adapter for use at work. I was
> going to use
> the BS2 and Embedded Ethernet (www.embeddedethernet.com), but I'm going to
> be making about a dozen units, possibly more, so thats about $600 for just
> the BS2s.
>
> So, I am thinking of buying a programmer and PicBasic compiler,
> but I'm not
> sure which microprocessor would be best. I'd need 16 io pins for the EE,
> plus whatever is needed for the serial hookup. Also, I'd need to able to
> read the Clear To Send signal. What chip would be best? I don't really
> know anything about them. I'm looking for something this is easy to use,
> yet versitile, has a fair amount of EEPROM, and fairly cheap.
>
> Perhaps a suggestion on a good book/website for dummies would help too. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Ken Robertson
>
>
>
>
>
>I'm pretty new to stamping and microcontrollers, so I'm trying to find some
>information on what would be best. I'm working on a project that is
>basically a ethernet to serial adapter for use at work. I was going to use
>the BS2 and Embedded Ethernet (www.embeddedethernet.com), but I'm going to
>be making about a dozen units, possibly more, so thats about $600 for just
>the BS2s.
>
>So, I am thinking of buying a programmer and PicBasic compiler, but I'm not
>sure which microprocessor would be best. I'd need 16 io pins for the EE,
>plus whatever is needed for the serial hookup. Also, I'd need to able to
>read the Clear To Send signal. What chip would be best? I don't really
>know anything about them. I'm looking for something this is easy to use,
>yet versitile, has a fair amount of EEPROM, and fairly cheap.
>
>Perhaps a suggestion on a good book/website for dummies would help too. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
>
>Thanks a lot,
> Ken Robertson
Hi Ken -
You may want to check the UBICOM web site which is the Scenix folks re-named
[noparse][[/noparse] http://wwww.ubicom.com ] and check some of their new products. I know
they have Ethernet connectivity, but I'm not sure if it necessarily fits
your particular needs.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Bruce Bates
You may not have been aware that we sell PBASIC interpreter chips at very
reasonable prices. This means you are not limited to prototyping with one
system (the BASIC Stamp) and mass production with another system. More
information on embedding the BASIC Stamp interpreter chip in your own design
can be found by following the PBASIC Interpreter Chips link and the BASIC
Stamps OEM link on the Products page of www.parallaxinc.com.
The per unit cost of PBASIC interpreter chips drops as the quantity
increases, and it drops below the $5 per chip mark for PBASIC SX interpreter
chips in lots above quantity-1000+. It's true that the incremental cost
incurred by purchasing a lot of 1000 Interpreters could be used to pay for a
good compiler. (Advertising Plug: Check out our Byte Craft SXC compiler on
page 61 of our catalog. If you're comfortable with programming in C, it
works well with the SX-Key and the SX chips. Examples with the SX Tech Bot
are included on the Downloads page of www.sxtech.com, and Byte Craft's info
is at http://bytecraft.com/isxc.html. Pavell Barnov also carries a less
expensive C2C compiler that works with the SX-Key
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/3656/c2c/cpp.html.)
An aside: One example of a situation that would favor the use of PBASIC
Interpreter chips is if you anticipate updating the program by sending out
replacement EEPROMs (that store the PBASIC program).
Below is some discussion of quantity vs. system that I copied from one of
our SX tech support e-mails.
We established the price at $49 (for the BASIC Stamp 2)hoping
that eventually we would get better at it and improve our margin.
What you are really paying for is the amortized engineering cost
of three years development time of a couple of engineers for the
firmware, pcb, and concept.
The bottom line with Stamps vs. bare chips:
Bare chips are 1/10 the cost, but 10X harder to program.
For 1ups and small run projects, many people choose stamps
since the program can usually be written in a few hours. The
benefits there are time to market, and low cost for code
development. When the production run size reaches ~100 units,
then the cost ascends to the point where it is cheaper to buy
just the interpreter chips from us (~$18/ea for BS2) and integrate
the stamp design within the project itself. This approach reduces
the per unit cost, but still retains the convenience of programming
in PBASIC.
When the production runs get to ~300 units, then economics dictate
that its wise to bear the cost of assembly code development and
go to a PIC, SX, or similar uP, thereby reducing the per unit cost,
including the amortized code development, to its lowest amount.
When you are ready to start progamming the SX, please
visit the webiste at: www.sxtech.com This is one of our webistes
dedicated to help people come up to speed on SX programming.
There is even a free textbook there that you can download, plus
a lot of sample code and a comprehensive FAQ list. Also, I'll be
here to help you climb that learning curve. The SX is probably the
easiest chip to learn assembly programming on, so its a great
starting point.
Andy
E-Mail...........alindsay@p...
Parallax, Inc. home page....................www.parallaxinc.com
BASIC Stamp Educational Resources...........www.stampsinclass.com
SX Microcontroller University Resources.....www.sxtech.com
Original Message
From: Ken Robertson [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=l5PNKWl15-Bo0zaM5XTqVkVrC4y51XJXUbb-eZFK3LvP4ZsyNaNZ5_cGikiVLJcJX1ZFMQ]ken@q...[/url
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 6:16 PM
To: basicstamps@egroups.com
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial communication with other PICs...
I'm pretty new to stamping and microcontrollers, so I'm trying to find some
information on what would be best. I'm working on a project that is
basically a ethernet to serial adapter for use at work. I was going to use
the BS2 and Embedded Ethernet (www.embeddedethernet.com), but I'm going to
be making about a dozen units, possibly more, so thats about $600 for just
the BS2s.
So, I am thinking of buying a programmer and PicBasic compiler, but I'm not
sure which microprocessor would be best. I'd need 16 io pins for the EE,
plus whatever is needed for the serial hookup. Also, I'd need to able to
read the Clear To Send signal. What chip would be best? I don't really
know anything about them. I'm looking for something this is easy to use,
yet versitile, has a fair amount of EEPROM, and fairly cheap.
Perhaps a suggestion on a good book/website for dummies would help too. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Thanks a lot,
Ken Robertson
alindsay@p... writes:
<< basicstamps@egroups.com >>
UNSUBSCRIBE .....NOW.........
<alindsay@p...> writes:
> Ken,
>
> You may not have been aware that we sell PBASIC interpreter chips...
<clip>
Is this "interpreter chip" just a fancy name for a PIC with some
proprietary code burned onto it?
16fxx family mainly the a6f8xx family, they have a range of I believe 22-33
or 22-66 i/o's
and they are programmable via picbasic pro and run at 4 and 20 mhz for sure
and maybe 10mhz
and for a pretty nice programmer I would look at www.newfound.com They have
a programmer that is pretty
versatile and programs a variety of micro's and is mplab compatible,
(Microchips programming tool) for under $100usd
I have one and have had no problems with it....
anyways just a thought... and btw pic basic pro is cool tool.
(www.melabs.com)
and just for your info, www.hvwtech.com in Calgary, Alberta, Canada has pic
basic pro on special right now for 299 CAN
dollars [noparse]:)[/noparse]... not 249 us [noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse]
anyways
Tyson Stephen
tysonstephen@h...
Original Message
From: Ken Robertson <ken@q...>
To: <basicstamps@egroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 6:16 PM
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial communication with other PICs...
> I'm pretty new to stamping and microcontrollers, so I'm trying to find
some
> information on what would be best. I'm working on a project that is
> basically a ethernet to serial adapter for use at work. I was going to
use
> the BS2 and Embedded Ethernet (www.embeddedethernet.com), but I'm going to
> be making about a dozen units, possibly more, so thats about $600 for just
> the BS2s.
>
> So, I am thinking of buying a programmer and PicBasic compiler, but I'm
not
> sure which microprocessor would be best. I'd need 16 io pins for the EE,
> plus whatever is needed for the serial hookup. Also, I'd need to able to
> read the Clear To Send signal. What chip would be best? I don't really
> know anything about them. I'm looking for something this is easy to use,
> yet versitile, has a fair amount of EEPROM, and fairly cheap.
>
> Perhaps a suggestion on a good book/website for dummies would help too. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Ken Robertson
>
>
>
>
Package" from CCS and it just came today. Haven't been able to hook it up
and play with it yet, but will tomorrow. I think I'll like the CCS compiler
too, looks good.
With the Warp-13, is it possible to run the chip from the programmer and
just have it output stuff to the serial port? My first goal is just get
basic serial stuff working, but don't have my prototype board all completely
soldered/happy. Just thought it would be cool if TX/RX were connected to
the chip.
Ken
Original Message
From: "Tyson Stephen" <tysonstephen@h...>
To: <basicstamps@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 12:29 AM
Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial communication with other PICs...
> you might try Microchips(http://www.microchip.com)
> 16fxx family mainly the a6f8xx family, they have a range of I believe
22-33
> or 22-66 i/o's
> and they are programmable via picbasic pro and run at 4 and 20 mhz for
sure
> and maybe 10mhz
> and for a pretty nice programmer I would look at www.newfound.com They
have
> a programmer that is pretty
> versatile and programs a variety of micro's and is mplab compatible,
> (Microchips programming tool) for under $100usd
> I have one and have had no problems with it....
>
> anyways just a thought... and btw pic basic pro is cool tool.
> (www.melabs.com)
> and just for your info, www.hvwtech.com in Calgary, Alberta, Canada has
pic
> basic pro on special right now for 299 CAN
> dollars [noparse]:)[/noparse]... not 249 us [noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse][noparse]:)[/noparse]
>
> anyways
>
> Tyson Stephen
> tysonstephen@h...