Swordfish

normnet · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 50

I did a quick C PIC compiler price comparison.
Addition's and corrections please.

http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en534868

http://www.htsoft.com/

http://www.ccsinfo.com/index.php

http://www.ccsinfo.com/ccs-product-catalog.php

http://www.bytecraft.com/

Microchip seems to have lowest cost/updates but a better compiler/IDE would be a plus.
Which compiler would be best for a C beginner in terms of support and examples?

Norm

rmteo · Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 215 Location: Colorado, USA

Another thing to consider in making the move to C from BASIC. I would be interested in the total development package - IDE, compiler and most importantly, hardware debug capability. These features need to be seamlessly integrated. The MPLAB/C18-C30-C32 package is somewhat appealing in this respect - also, the fact that you get the entire thing for free (less optimizations after 60 days, not a big deal for most) is a plus. Hardware debug is sorely missing from most (if not all) BASICs, unless you are prepared to jump through hoops.

Some more food for thought. Why limit yourself to PICs? With C, there is a huge selection of other MCUs available. In particular, offerings based on the ARM Cortex M0/M3 cores are very interesting compared to PICs.

normnet · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 50

One nice thing about PIC is you can plunk down an 18 or 28 pin Dip package and start programming.
Arm has no small pin count or DIP packages.
Neither does PIC32 that I know of.

Norm

rmteo · Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 215 Location: Colorado, USA

I concur. MC (and perhaps Atmel) are probably the last few holdouts in the MCU world that still make DIP packages.

To get the performance/features of a typical Cortex M0/M3, you would be looking at a PIC32 and as you pointed out, they also are not available as DIPs. Interestingly, I just posted this on the MC forum:
http://www.microchip.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=485604&mpage=1&key=&#485604

Francis · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 276 Location: Devon

Anyone had a go with the Psoc stuff from Cypess?

normnet · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 50

ARM pluses:
ARM can go as low as around 44 pins or large enough to run Linux.

It's code (C) is portable as well as the hardware as several manufacturers provide ARM chips.

It's 16/32 bit and DigiKey lists one ARM as high as 800MHz.

As such some consider it the "industry standard".

I think though I will learn C with C18 before trying ARM especially for
the smaller pin projects.

Norm

octal · Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:47 pm Post subject:

Hello normnet,
it all depends on which ARM core you are using!
If you use ARMv4 or v6 for example (like LPC2xxx series from NXP), you'll for sure NOT find any chip with less than 64 pins (I think not even 44).

If you go for a new low power core like ARM Cortex-M3 or Cortex-M0, you can find little chips.
On Cortex-M3 for example you can see Luminary catalog (now acquired by Texas Instruments), they have some 28 pins DIP packages (in smt tought), that goes up to 50MHz (about 75MIPS).

Now even for other big chips, you always find on ebay or other sources a lot of DIL adapted chips.

Regards
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Raistlin · Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 61

off topic , but hey treads off topic anyway Smile

What is the concern for pin count and SMD ? a 64pin TQFP is really easy to solder even by hand
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octal · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:31 pm Post subject:

For having worked on gsm phones repair for more than 1,5 years, I soldered almost all kind of SMT and other surface mount chips.

But...

normnet · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 50

octal · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:08 pm Post subject:

It's right.
For some applications we really don't need too much power nor too much pins.
I personally still use some PIC10Fxx (especially in 6 pins package) and PIC12Fxx as signal generators or to replace a very simple logic because they give more flexibility and the package is really very small (altought the price is higher than 74xx/40xx).
PIC and AVR still win when only little packages are needed. But I really (also) don't see when an application will ever need a 32Bit processor with only 8 pins (maybe for encryption/decryption Idea

)

Regards
_________________
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normnet · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 50

There is a strong market for smaller pin micro's as Microchip is the sales leader in 8 bit micro's.

Norm

Francis · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 276 Location: Devon

Yes, I doubt if my 50 pence Chinese RGB garden light has an ARM in it.
Isn't there a phrase "Horses for Courses" that covers the use?

rmteo · Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 215 Location: Colorado, USA

I agree with octal. The only situation where I see using a PIC (in particular the 6-pin PIC10's) or similar device, is when space is severely constrained - even then only on a volume commercial application. For everything else, one of the small Cortex M0/M3 ARM's (such as the 7x7mm, 33-pin, 65 cent LPC1114) is what I would use. The LPC will do anything that the PIC can, and then some - the converse is is not true. Plus, with the ARM, you can scale your application up to 144-pin, 1mB Flash, 6kB RAM without having to muck around with different/incompatible product families, developments tools, etc.

normnet · Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 50