18F series equivalent to 16F877A?

[William At MyBlueRoom]

What would be the closest replacement for the 16F877A in an 18F series PIC?

I think the 18F4431 is close but is there a better choice?

Or possibly the 18F4550 USB?

It for an 18F series prototyping system (Dragonfly)

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

What would be the closest replacement for the 16F877A in an 18F series PIC?

I think the 18F4431 is close but is there a better choice?

Or possibly the 18F4550 USB?

It for an 18F series prototyping system (Dragonfly)

I would suggest using the 18F4550, specifically because of it's USB facilities, an obvious reason to move to the 18F is for the USB, or for 99+% of jobs you may as well just stick to the 16F877.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Well the 16F887 is coming Nov 26, I might wait for that.

Just why is the 16F series so much more popular than the 18F? I mean the 18F is actually eaiser to program IMHO.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Well the 16F887 is coming Nov 26, I might wait for that.

Aren't these chips all pin compatible?, so it doesn't make much difference - with the obvious exception being the USB capability of the 18F series (no point having a USB interface on board if the chip doesn't support it).

Just why is the 16F series so much more popular than the 18F? I mean the 18F is actually eaiser to program IMHO.

Because it's been available for so much longer (I remember when the ONLY EEPROM based PIC was the 16C84, and being really excited when the 16F877 came out!) - and the small instruction set makes it easy to use. The 18F series are more optimised for C, even the MicroChip application notes tend to be in C - which presumably is why they make a free compiler available?.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

Aren't these chips all pin compatible?, so it doesn't make much difference - with the obvious exception being the USB capability of the 18F series (no point having a USB interface on board if the chip doesn't support it).



Because it's been available for so much longer (I remember when the ONLY EEPROM based PIC was the 16C84, and being really excited when the 16F877 came out!) - and the small instruction set makes it easy to use. The 18F series are more optimised for C, even the MicroChip application notes tend to be in C - which presumably is why they make a free compiler available?.

Major functions are generally pin compatible, but the special hardware features are all over the place. Even similar PICs like the 16F628A and 16F88 they move the USART pins around, and a few others too.

Power, GND, osc tend to be the same. Keeps em from blowing up.

The 18F4431 appears designed for motor control, fast A/D and 6 PWM pins (no PSP port)
The 18F4550 appears designed for USB, it's also more expensive than the 18F4431 or 16F887 etc. All the USB examples are in C, but looks like you get both a hardware EUASRT, MSSP & USB. Pretty tempting.

Of course the 16F887 is exciting too, cheaper than the 16F877A and built in osc... Finally!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Of course the 16F887 is exciting too, cheaper than the 16F877A and built in osc... Finally!

I'm a BIG believer in built-in oscillators - it makes life so much easier, particularly as I use veroboard to build circuits on.

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

I'm a BIG believer in built-in oscillators - it makes life so much easier, particularly as I use veroboard to build circuits on.

Sadly it's only 8MHz max, and useless for the USB 18F4550 (needs 16 to 20MHz)