I've actually had some success with the 16F628A previously and have enjoyed what I've done with JAL. I'm certainly a novice, but I'm not at the point where I am
learning a language, as such, well - I'm a fairly competent programmer, is what I mean - although JAL is not something I'm expert at. JAL seems to do what I want at the moment, the biggest issue (criticism?) I would point at it would be lack of stuff on the Internet. The Yahoo mailing list is... OK.
I'm eager to try the 16F88 as I now would like to add a potentiometer to a project and use the A to D features (which the 16F628A doesn't have) instead of adding other components, as helpfully described earlier in this thread.
I'm comparing the 16F88 and the 18F1320 side-by-side right now, at:
MICROCHIP|PIC16F88-I/P|8BIT FLASH MCU, 16F88, DIP18 | Farnell United Kingdom
...and...
MICROCHIP|PIC18F1320-I/P|8BIT FLASH MCU, 18F1320, DIP18 | Farnell United Kingdom
...and, apart from the fact that the 18F1320 is more expensive, there doesn't seem to be much separating them that
I should currently care about. Unless I'm missing something?
That said, the 18F1320 does have 4 PWM channels and it is PWM than I am actually doing, with an RGB LED, although I am doing it all via software in JAL at the moment. They look to have the same 8MHz internal oscillator, is that right?
Is there a special reason that you suggest the 18F1320 over the 16F88? Happy to listen to advice, it's all the same physical sized package and the cost differential is not so important... but the 18F1320
might seem like overkill to me right now... unless I really wanted those PWM channels.
P.S. - ah, I think I realised why Bill recommended the 18F1320, it's because Swordfish BASIC only supports 18XXXX PICs, not 16XXXXX PICs.