PICAXE

[Turd]

This is IMO the cheapest and easiest ways to get into microcontrollers (the only ones I know how to use ).

All you need is a serial cable, a couple resistors, a PICAXE chip and the free editor/compiler.

You program it in basic. This is how you would blink an LED:

do
high 1 'bring pin1 high
pause 1000 'pause for 1 second
low 1 'bring pin1 low
pause 1000 'pause for 1 second
loop 'loop back to "do"

Or

do
toggle 1
pause 1000
loop

It's that easy

Heres some .PDFs
http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/picaxe_manual1.pdf
http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/picaxe_manual2.pdf
http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/picaxe_manual3.pdf


eric

[Alan]

Seems like the PicAxe is catching on... It is featured in Nuts and Volts Magazine quite often.

[Turd]

They're really easy to use. Some times I find my self reprogramming a chip 5 times with in 5 minutes, just changing my code and trying again to get my program to work (downloads are really fast )
I don't think I'll ever be able to rap my head around C or assembly, so for me basic is the way to go

Plus, theres a built-in simulator, so you don't even need a chip to play around and have a little fun


eric

[Turd]

Micro controllers are micro-chips that can be programed to do cool things, like blink an LED. And I'll show you how in this small tutorial

First you need to order a PICAXE 08M> Link.
You can also order a bread board and a download cable but I'll show you how to make your own from an old serial cable.
You'll need the fallowing parts:
1 3 AAA or 3 AA battery holder with three batteries
1 LED
1 0.1 uf ceramic capacitor (marked 104)
1 100 ohm resistor (brown, black, brown, gold)
1 1k ohm resistor (brown, black, red, gold)
1 10k ohm resistor (brown, black, orange, gold)
1 22k ohm resistor (red, red, orange, gold)
and a strip of three pins. I found mine on an old circuit board.

To make the download cable cut the end with the nine pins and save the end with the nine holes. pic 1, pic 2, pic 3.

Cut almost an inch of the black outer shell off the end. Using a multi-meter or continuity tester find the wires that connect to pin hole 2, 3 and 5. Save those and cut the rest off. The wires in my cable were colored brown(2), red(3) and yellow(5). pic 1, pic 2.

Skin the three wires, add a little solder paste to the ends and apply some hot solder to tin the ends. pic 1, pic 2, pic 3.

Now solder the wires to the three pins. pic.

Download the FREE editor/compiler here.
And install it.

Add the parts to the bread board. pic 1, pic 2, pic 3.

In the editor, go to View > Mode tab > select 08M. Click the Editor tab select Color Syntax and Enhanced. Click OK.

Type this into the editor to make the LED blink:

[precisewitem]

Thanks Turd, I've been looking into this for a few days now. I need to research more before I can code anything for that game we have been working on.
_________________
"Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework..."

Thomas Edison

[Turd]

No problem

The best things to start with would be to look over manual one and two.


eric