Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] PIC for Thickies

A Pic is a microcontroller (Computer on a chip) that is manufactured by
MicroChip Inc.
http://www.microchip.com
It is popular because of its' very low cost (less than $1 depending on which
model and quantity desired.) and the ease of programming. Most PIC's
require a device to download the program to them, but these are inexpensive
and can be home-built. Their are several different PIC programming
languages. My personal favorite is PICBasic, which is very similar to
Qbasic or GWbasic.

Here is an example application for a Pic.

Suppose you wanted to control your sprinkler system. You could do it with a
simple timer circuit and a relay, but you would be limited in your options.
If you used a PIC, you could start out with just an onn/off timer, but if
you got bored, you could add a Small Display and keypad to it. You could
use the Analog/digital converter and add a soil moisture sensor. You could
even get really crazy and mount your sprinkler head on a stepper and be able
to control how much water each area of you lawn gets. All of this out of a
2$ chip. OOh, you could use on of those polaroid robotics ultrasonic
rangefinders as a primitive radar system and have the sprinklers chase away
dogs/cats/kids/mailmen from your flowerbeds.

Pretty cool for something t hat starts with a $2 chip.




----Original Message Follows----
From: John Stevenson <john@...>
Reply-To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] PIC for Thickies
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 11:26:06 +0100

I keep seeing the PIC reference in this list.
Being an 'Electronically Challenged Person' could someone explain exactly
what a PIC is and it's general uses in not too advanced an explanation.
--

Regards,
John Stevenson
Special Purpose Machines
Nottingham, England

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com