Re: Learning PIC on the job

I have been 'learning' pic on the job -
I started out with a jdm programmer and destroyed a couple of pics while 
moving the chip in and out of my cirquit.
Also I found it to be quite slow. i use a wisp628 kit now. in serial 
programming, I just made another connector to my cirquit. I use a 
dataswitcher  to switch between the cirquit serial output and it's 
programming port and basically made a small experimentation board around 
a 16f88 and 16f628 this way. I soldered nice colored wires to all of the 
left over ports ( A0 to A5 and some of port B ) and stick them in to 
breadboards to connect to other periferals.

compiling -> uploading to the pic -> reading debug output from serial 
port takes 30 seconds, versus a cycle of 3 t o5 minutes and the risk of 
breaking a leg off my pic sometimes.
the wisp kit can be build yourself or ordered but quite cheap.

cheers!


Nicholas Robinson wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I'm completely new to PIC. I would be really grateful for some pointers as to 
> which technologies/devices I should use so that I can target my learning 
> towards my goal!
> 
> The controlling application resides on a Linux notebook PC (or PDA???) using 
> C++/Qt with a wired connection to a master PIC-based device. This master is 
> in turn connected wirelessly to a variable (say 12-16) number of slaves at a 
> range of up to 100 feet. The master and slaves need to be battery-operated.
> 
> The master is fed a configuration by the PC and then operates in one of two 
> ways (both need to be available): independently, storing a log of events for 
> later upload to the PC (a few hundred events only); or it staying in contact 
> with the PC, updating the application in real-time.
> 
> On initialisation, the master would broadcast to find out which/how many 
> slaves are reachable. Each slave would have a unique ID. The master then 
> instructs each slave to go into one of four states and stay there for a 
> period of time, after which they will be instructed to change to another 
> state. External events may force individual slaves to change state. Slaves 
> don't need to store anything about the past or future; they just need to be 
> able to report their current state either on a forced external change or when 
> polled by the master.
> 
> Any suggestions as to the best way to take this forward for someone based in 
> the UK in terms of programmers/test kits, etc. would be most helpful.
> 
> I have tried to make some guesses but I'd probably only embarrass myself if I 
> included them here!
> 
> Best wishes and thanks in advance
> 
> Nick
> 
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