Some quastions about PICAXE

Hi there,
I'm planing to go for study my bachelor's in electronics in Newzealand so I just review for electronics trend in Newzealand and they use largely those PICAXE, I'm a PIC guy (still a lot to learn,just have made a line follower so far.) now I want to give PICAXE a try as the programing is extremely easy and it is also based on PIC, the question is that
Can I program PICAXE with PICkit2 ?
Is PICAXE used in industry or it is just an easy to use chip for student ?
As the programing is very easy do you think it can keep one away from developing the programing logic understanding ?
Should a good engineer prefer such EASY TO USE chip?
Which is the cheapest 16 bit PICAXE and PIC mcu ?

c36041254 said:

Can I program PICAXE with PICkit2?

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You can, but you wouldn't normally, as it would wipe out the onboard PICAXE software/bootloader and turn it back into a normal PIC. You can't program PICAXE programs with PICkit 2. Just use the standard PICAXE bootloader method for programming.

Is PICAXE used in industry

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I doubt it.

or it is just an easy to use chip for student?

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Yes.

As the programing is very easy do you think it can keep one away from developing the programing logic understanding?

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Maybe. I bought one and played with it briefly, but it bored me. Too easy. Great if you don't want to have to work hard to get a project doing things. Not so great if you need big speed or want to know how things work in detail.

Should a good engineer prefer such EASY TO USE chip?

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If it does the job for you, then yes.

Which is the cheapest 16 bit PICAXE and PIC mcu?

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As far as I know there are no 16-bit PICAXE chips. All 8-bit.

16-bit PICs start in the 24F and 24H chips. Then there are the 30F and 33F ones. I would assume the 24 series would be cheapest.

Thanks, I think I should not use PICAXE, I believe an engineer should concentrate upon developing knowledge and technology, this PICAXE sounds to be a school project thing.

Hi. Consider using the Atom bootloading PIC processor from BasicMicro(.com). It's the same idea as the PICAxe, where you get a BASIC compiler to download your compiled code into the processor. But, this BASIC is great, as it has 32 bit floating point math, and has commands to take advantage of the built in peripherals of the PIC 16F876 and 16F877A. So, you get hardware USART, PWM, comparators, 8 channels of ADC, timers, interrupts, and more. This has support for I2C, SPI, X10, and RS232 bit-banged serial ports if you've used the hardware USART. This is touted as the next natural step up from the Stamp and the PICAxe. Modules are typically $50 to $60. Development boards can run another $60 to $100. They just introduced USB driven boards for these, so no worries about PCs without serial ports. You can get the interpreter chip for $20 and just breadboard around it. And download the million dollar BASIC for FREE! I've used the compiler with Win98SE, 2000, and XP Home, no problem.

I don't own stock in the company. I own several variations of the Atom, and use them at home and at work as test devices and budget bench instruments. I highly recommend them.

Later!
kenjj

My 2cents, get a proper programmer and if BASIC is your thing use Swordfish BASIC a true compiler and a wonderful IDE. It supports 18F series PICs which are much better suited than 16F PICs for compilers.

c36041254 said:

Thanks, I think I should not use PICAXE, I believe an engineer should concentrate upon developing knowledge and technology, this PICAXE sounds to be a school project thing.

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It is, it's aimed squarely at school kids, probably 12-13 years old.

It's an amazing product though, and great value for money.

Just my 2 cents:

While the PICAXE is mainly aimed at those entering the world of microcontrollers, it is also aimed at anyone who needs a simple-to-program, flexible, and inexpensive microcontroller,and who doesn't need great speed. I've used the PICAXE extensively for a number of items, including buzz-in style quiz sets and tone generators for communications gear. Some of the PICAXE chips support I2C, which makes them ideal for fast development of projects using that protocol. A system can be developed with the PICAXE for speed and simplicity of development, then ported to a normal PIC for speed of operation.

If you're going to port it then skip the PICaxe and buy a proper programmer, they're pretty cheap these days.

blueroomelectronics said:

If you're going to port it then skip the PICaxe and buy a proper programmer, they're pretty cheap these days.

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Don't have to buy a programmer with Picaxe.

Al

The PicAxe is the programmer in that case. A proper programmer will let you program more than just the picAxe, and will cost less in the long run by far.

On the contrary...Have a look at all the projects, and area's where the PICAXE is used.



teddy7

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