On Sun, 23 Dec 2018 12:15:41 +0100, Gerhard Reithofer wrote:

> Yes, that would also definitely be my approach (I only know the Atmega
> world and have never used PICs).
>
There are a number of devices based on the PIC mpu and a some EEPROM.
These are typically packaged as a single chip. The package size varies
depending on how many i/o lines are provided and what they can be
configured to do, but all of them have a thee line serial interface which
is used for uploading programs and is usually available to applications
as well.

These range in price from the Parallax Basic STAMP (24 pin, $49) to the
PICAXE family (8-40 pins, £2.26-£6.73 including VAT). They all use a
cross-compiler running on a PC which uploads the compiler program to the
chip's EEPROM and provides some way of monitoring the program when its
running (usually via the serial port. AFAICT all of these parre
programmed in some form of integer BASIC.

I've used both STAMP and PICAXE.

IMO the STAMP has a considerably better and more capable BASIC and a
decent IDE (combined editor/compiler/debugger) *but* has no PWM support
and limited space for the program's variables though it does support 1, 4
and 8 bit variables and signed integers. However it was easy enough to
control a servo with an explicit loop in the program while still
monitoring other pins and implementing a timer that was accurate to
within 0.5% of real time.

The PICAXE is also easy enough to use and provides both PWM output
support and the ability to debounce button presses, but its BASIC is not
nearly as capable (no signed integer support). There is an IDE but I
haven't looked at it since it is simple enough to use a Makefile to
control compilation and upload and to use your preferred editor to write
programs. Debug is limited to writing trace messages to the serial port.
The shop supplies a lot of useful support stuff including a USB-Serial
adapter cable for connection to PICAXE chips, prototyping boards and
decent plastic breadboards.

PICAXEs seem to be aimed at the education and 'maker' markets and their
shop reflects this. Compilers are freely downloadable (both 32 bit and 64
bit) but are X86 only. However, the compilers do run on an RPi under qemu.
Instructions for installing and running them on an RPi are here:

https://picaxeforum.co.uk/threads/arm-binaries-for-command-line-compilers.
22547/

Other links. These are the main support sites and have shops:

PICAXE: http://www.picaxe.com/
STAMP:  https://www.parallax.com/


--
Martin    | martin at
Gregorie  | gregorie dot org

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