Electronics > Beginners
Beginner here: how to start with PIC micros? PICKIT 3 or 4 or Mplab snap?
MarkF:
Getting started with PICs:
- Get a PICKIT 3 clone. It will do all the new PICs and you do not need the JTAG in the PICKit 4. Do not get the SNAP. It is just a limited version of the others.
- Unless you need all of the I/O pins of the PIC16F877A, get the smaller PIC16F876A. The PIC16F886 is a cheaper version of those and has internal oscillator. You can also try the PIC18F2550 (used in the PICKIT 2) to play with USB.
- There are some interesting options in the: PIC16F145x and PIC16F178x series in small packages. Also, the PIC18F2620 if you need a lot of memory.
- All you need for any of the PIC16's and PIC18's is MPLAB X and their XC8 compiler.
Everyone has their pet micro-controller. Don't let them distract you. Try those that interest you and decide for yourself.
wilfred:
--- Quote from: MarkF on September 23, 2019, 03:53:58 pm ---Do not get the SNAP. It is just a limited version of the others.
--- End quote ---
That's very true, and it doesn't have the robustness of a fully enclosed Pickit nor does it come with a USB cable.
But for right now it is really cheap. And someone getting started with PIC it might help to use a genuine Microchip product with MPLAB.
FreddieChopin:
--- Quote from: iamericmin on September 22, 2019, 05:09:45 pm ---The PIC seems a nice cheap starting point
--- End quote ---
Until you want to buy a C compiler that doesn't suck in every possible way. Here's a tip: learn ARM micros, ST has those nice discovery boards, for example STM32F4-DISCOVERY. You can use a regular gcc and you'll get better support than a bunch of old farts, who've decided to stick with the worst possible tool just because they don't want to learn anything better.
rstofer:
--- Quote from: FreddieChopin on September 24, 2019, 06:07:35 am ---
--- Quote from: iamericmin on September 22, 2019, 05:09:45 pm ---The PIC seems a nice cheap starting point
--- End quote ---
Until you want to buy a C compiler that doesn't suck in every possible way. Here's a tip: learn ARM micros, ST has those nice discovery boards, for example STM32F4-DISCOVERY. You can use a regular gcc and you'll get better support than a bunch of old farts, who've decided to stick with the worst possible tool just because they don't want to learn anything better.
--- End quote ---
And, should the OP choose the Teensy 4.0, he will get an ARM Cortex M7 with floating point hardware and a Teensyduino library that duplicates the functionality of the Arduino library. So, for the most part, Arduino projects work - just a heck of a lot faster.
Same IDE, different hidden toolchain but still capable of bare metal programming while retaining the Arduino programming style via the IDE.
There are too many good choices to mess around with PICs.
iamericmin:
Hi rstofer,
I know Paul's amazing work on the Teensy lineup, and I have messed a round with the Teensy 3.2. However, I think they are a bit overkill for most of my projects as I don't need DAC-quality audio or intense mathematical computation.
The reason I like PIC micros(from what I see so far) is because they have everything AVR chips don't have. For example, Full-speed USB in a 28-pin DIP package just seems too good to be true for me. As a novice hobbyist I just "bounce around" here and there, discovering/trying out new things every now and then.
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