Roger Harris
New Member
Hi all,
The title says it all, really.
I want to learn how to program Microcontrollers in the most economic way possible.
I have a specific purpose in mind (at least, at first I do - knowing me I'll get distracted into all sorts of other avenues).
I'm building a home simulator cockpit, to interface with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and FSX.
I want to drive 7-segment LCDs, taking values from the Sim probably using Pete Dowson's fantastic interface FSUIPC and programming in Visual Basic (because I don't know C++).
I have almost no money, so I'm very heavily in the DIY bracket, using a 7 year old laptop I got off a mate and Win XP.
If you're wondering how I can build such a thing when I'm broke, then you've never found a local source of pallets, old cardboard boxes, and haven't heard of Freecycle! Everything in the Sim, screens, computers, structure etc. has been garnered from such sites and has cost very little. No more than £20 spent so far - and that's on petrol!
Anyway I digress. As usual.
So I have a very basic understanding of programming such as do-loops and if/then/else statements, subroutines and the like. I have had a dabble in PIC programming some years ago.
What would be the best way to start?
many thanks,
Roger.
The title says it all, really.
I want to learn how to program Microcontrollers in the most economic way possible.
I have a specific purpose in mind (at least, at first I do - knowing me I'll get distracted into all sorts of other avenues).
I'm building a home simulator cockpit, to interface with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and FSX.
I want to drive 7-segment LCDs, taking values from the Sim probably using Pete Dowson's fantastic interface FSUIPC and programming in Visual Basic (because I don't know C++).
I have almost no money, so I'm very heavily in the DIY bracket, using a 7 year old laptop I got off a mate and Win XP.
If you're wondering how I can build such a thing when I'm broke, then you've never found a local source of pallets, old cardboard boxes, and haven't heard of Freecycle! Everything in the Sim, screens, computers, structure etc. has been garnered from such sites and has cost very little. No more than £20 spent so far - and that's on petrol!
Anyway I digress. As usual.
So I have a very basic understanding of programming such as do-loops and if/then/else statements, subroutines and the like. I have had a dabble in PIC programming some years ago.
What would be the best way to start?
many thanks,
Roger.