[time-nuts] PICTIC II ready-made?

[Chris Albertson]

On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Attila Kinali <attila at kinali.ch> wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:45:52 -0700
> Chris Albertson <albertson.chris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 5:50 AM, Bill Dailey <docdailey at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I have wondered the same thing.
> >
> >
> > It might be time for a group project to design a "Pictic III" that uses
> > parts that are readily available.   Today I'd build it around an Arduino
> > rather than a PIC even if the cost is more.  Arduino is programmable by
> > __anyone__ and plugs into a USB port, no onwwouldhave to supply programed
> > chips and because it is so easy to program maybe some users would try to
> > make improvements and offer them to others.
>
> May i ask what makes the arduino programable by "__anyone__" ?
> Sofar, i only had a look at the hardware of arduino, but never looked
> at the software side, as for me, who is regularly writing C code for
> bare metal uC applications, the software part is solved if i know that
> gcc can generate code for the architecture in question.


I can do the same thing too.   But there is a steep learning curve for most
people.   What makes the Arduino easy for beginners is the combination of...

1) A boot loader that makes the Adruino self programmable over USB.  No
other hardware is required.  This also means EVERYONE has the same
programming hardware so the software can hide the fact that it is even
being used.  No "settings" to figure out

2) The IDE is written in Java and is portable.  It is truly identical on
all platforms.  Yes it uses gcc but the end user never has to deal with gcc
or even know what gcc is.  Same with saving your code, hit just puts it
"some place" and keeps track of it

3) There is a library of functions that work together.   and the library is
the SAME on even Arduino so all the example code "just works".  you can cut
and paste code between projects.   Most people when they write programs are
really stringing together library calls.  So it takes two lines of code to
get the value from an ADC and send it over USB to a PC.

4) There are lot of books and on-line training materials and all the
examples work on all platforms and on all Arduino compatible devices.

5) it is fast.  I can change a line of code and then hit the "load" button
and seconds later the changed code is running on the Arduino.  It is almost
like programming an interpreted language

6) The whole system was designed so that artists and designers could us
microcontrollersin their projects.     The first test project I did was to
read the voltage from the wiper on a 100K pot and display it on an LCD
screen.   It took a little over an hour and that included wiring up the
hardware, plugging the Arduino into the computer.  Then I unplug the USB
cable and connect a 9V battery and I have a portable toy project.



Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California