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Vassilis writes "A Tutorial Board for the PIC16F84A Microcontroller. This is a new design of a tutorial board based on the popular PIC16F84A microcontroller. It features eight single leds, a 7-segment display, an LCD display and five push buttons. It is an ideal solution for the beginner to take his/her first programming steps in the world of microcontrollers" - Link.
PlayPIC - Tutorial board for the PIC16F84A microcontroller
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jun 30, 2006 09:55 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics |
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I would also suggest the EasyPIC3. http://mikroe.com/en/tools/easypic3/ I have one, and it is amazing (and cheap for what it does)
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Wow, that looks like a pretty awesome kit, if I was going to buy either that or a Basic stamp development kit to get into microcontroller programming, what would you recommend?
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Why do people still use the 16F84A? It even says that this is a new board!
Switch over to the 16F628A. The 16F628A is cheaper (because not deprecated like the 16F84A) and has more features. It is by-and-large compatible with the 16F84A -- converting code from the 84A to the 628A is often quite straightforward.
Yes, the 84A was hugely popular some years ago. But now something better has come along. It's time the hobbyists switched to something better and cheaper.
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I would suggest looking for a kit based on something newer and better than the 16F84A. It's 10-year old technology and very obsolete. It would be like buying a pentium-66 to get an introduction to modern computers.
The only reason the F84 is so popular today is a lot of early tutorials were written based on it a decade ago. The F84 is very expensive and has no peripherals.
For example, the F84 is $4.67. The 16F648A is fully backwards compatible with the F48, costs $2.48, has 4 times the memory as well as including an onboard CCP module and USART module. The F648 also has 4 more IO lines in the same 18-pin chip package because it uses newer technology.
The F84 is a poor educational tool because it forces you not to use the special functions. It's far better to learn communcations with a USART than bit-banging.
Also if you use the F84 then when you go looking for help from places like piclist, you'll just get laughed at.
I would suggest using Wouter's Dwarf Boards as a starting tool for pic programming. http://www.voti.nl/shop/p/db.html
They are a system with a main board holding the MCU that brings the IO ports to header connections, and there's a bunch of IO boards that connect to the headers to give you LEDs, switches, analog inputs, and LCD, etc.
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mmm
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