Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Laser mouse based DRO - Stand Alone ?

"I do believe that MicroChip goes all the way out to make it easy to try
PICs."

Hi Alan;

I've just recently started reading up on the PIC due to all the buzz
about the hardware. Frankly I'm less than impressed with what I know
at the moment about the chips. I'm left with the impression that
microchip would have to go all out to convince people to go with their
hardware.

It is nice that the chips have good compiler support as at the assembly
level the chips look to be a bit difficult. I'm also of the opinion
that any thing less that trivial usage would be better done today on a
16 bit or 32 bit platform, especially if good compiler support is
wanted. With some of the ARM devices costs can be very manageable.

Granted this may not be the case for volume manufacturing, but for home
built / limited production hardware there can be huge benefit in easier
software development. What everyone here needs though is a chip of
any sort with the hardware uilt in to do the job in question. That is
a chip with 3 or 4 quadrature input ports would be ideal.
Unfortunately most of what I've found so far are chips with just one
input port.


Thanks
dave


KM6VV wrote:

>Hi Steve,
>
>The AVRs are interesting chips! Inexpensive, very powerful, compilers
>available. We considered it on a project that's starting, but limited time,
>familiarity with PICs and their compilers dictated that we continue to use a pic
>for this project as well.
>
>Yeah, there are some peculiar instructions in the PIC instruction set, but I'm
>normally writing in C, so I don't mind!
>
>I do believe that MicroChip goes all the way out to make it easy to try PICs.
>
>The Tach Jr. kit is based on an Atmel chip.
>
> http://dsgnspec.0catch.com/
>
>Small package, tach works good for spindles!
>
>Alan KM6VV
>
>
>Stephen Wille Padnos wrote:
>
>
>>Alan Marconett wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Hi Art,
>>>
>>>I fully agree! And I've ran the DRO chips on an old PC myself! OK, I
>>>didn't have encoders on the axis of a machine, but I ran the encoders!
>>>
>>>PICs are a LOT of fun! They are simple enough that you can get around the
>>>whole job. Learn a little C, learn a little micro processor an electronics,
>>>a really good project for learning. And they can be quite powerful
>>>solutions for commercial products as well (my new job).
>>>
>>>Hi-Tech has a FREE "lite" compiler for a few selected PICs. So do some
>>>other compiler suppliers.
>>>
>>> http://www.htsoft.com/
>>>
>>>CCS is another compiler; cheaper, probably affordable for many hobbyists
>>>(Hi-Tech is pricy).
>>>
>>>Alan KM6VV
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>Art,
>>
>>Not really CNC-related (except for the fact that you can generate step
>>pulses or make DROs with a microcontroller), but here's my two cents.
>>
>>Unless you're required to use a PIC (ie, the chip is already a part of
>>the design, and the customer won't change it), try the AVR from Atmel.
>>The cost of the chip is similar (AVRs used to be more expensive, but now
>>they're less than a PIC in many instances), but I find the instruction
>>set to be *much* better. There are little things, like the fact that
>>the PIC has no add-with-carry instruction, to big things like the AVR
>>having 32 registers. The AVR also has a bunch of C compilers available,
>>like the PIC.
>>
>>One hardware advantage to the AVR is that in-circuit programming only
>>requires a 5V supply (some even program at 3V, I think), whereas the PIC
>>needs a 12V line to get into programming mode. The PIC has an advantage
>>in that it only takes 5 wires, and the AVR needs 6 (both including power
>>and ground).
>>
>>Either one can be used for some fun projects, and the flexibility of
>>these chips is pretty amazing.
>>Just an opinion from someone who's been writing microcontroller code for
>>the last 15 years or so :)
>>
>>- Steve
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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