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help with purchase decision — Parallax Forums

help with purchase decision

Drud0616Drud0616 Posts: 26
edited 2004-10-22 14:45 in BASIC Stamp
I'm looking to spend no more than $150 on a PIC basic controller and board.· A must is for it to have an easy way to program the chip from my pc, a means to communitcate with my pc through a serial port or something along those lines, a minimum of 16 I/O pins, and a power supply source.· Also I will need a means to output a signal for a specified period of time.· I'd also like a way to test my project via proto-board, but the problem is that the final project must be soldered together.· I've had experience with some parallax kits and the controller is already soldered onto the same board that contains the proto-board.

Any suggestions on which model I should pick up?· Thanks·

Comments

  • KenMKenM Posts: 657
    edited 2004-10-22 03:13
    Are you comfortable with assembly language?

    The Ubicom SX distributed through parallax sounds like it would meet your criteria.

    The sx28 has 20 I/O pins. The SX key is about $90, the SX itself about $4

    Free compiler from Parallax.

    http://www.parallax.com/sx/programming_kits.asp
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2004-10-22 03:32
    Drud,

    Everything you've identified can be achieved with the BASIC Stamp 2. For your cost, I recommend theBASIC Stamp Discovery Kit at http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=27207

    This includes a removable BS2-IC module.

    Ken Gracey
    Parallax, Inc.
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,399
    edited 2004-10-22 03:39
    Drud,

    I realize my recommendation above is more than you want to pay. So here's a deal you can't refuse. This is the same thing but without the printed books (you can download them from our web site):

    http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=28102

    Ken
  • Drud0616Drud0616 Posts: 26
    edited 2004-10-22 06:34
    The Board of education kit sounds good, but what do I do when I need to solder everything together for the final project? I'm assuming the microcontroller is already soldered onto the board. Is the proto-board the only means of interacting with the chip? If so then I need something else.
    Also can the chip itself fit onto a proto-board?
  • cyberbiotacyberbiota Posts: 79
    edited 2004-10-22 06:46
    Drud-

    The Stamp module is not soldered to the board.· It can be removed, and placed on a protoboard, or soldered to a PC board of your own design. The chips on the module are soldered down, but even that can be worked around with the OEM BS2 kit (all through-hole, very easy to modify).· The Board of Education is merely a very convenient way of rapidly prototyping with the stamp.

    peter

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Peter C. Charles

    Director, Research and Technology
    CyberBiota, Incorporated
    Peter.charles@cyberbiota.com
    http://www.cyberbiota.com
  • allanlane5allanlane5 Posts: 3,815
    edited 2004-10-22 14:45
    For my proto-boards, I go with the http://www.basicmicro.com/Product.aspx?productID=91&CategoryID=11 for $8.00. This will take a BS2 soldered in or socketed (recommended). They sell a bag-of-parts for this board for $26.00, which is enough parts (including sockets) to build two boards. The board fits into a PACTEC HML-ET box (around $5.00).

    This board also has a small prototyping area to solder in your own circuits. Check it out.
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