Why choose PIC instead of other microcontroller?

[StupidDum]

I use PIC, but i not very sure what are the advantages compared to other microcontroller, such as motorola, zilog...etc
because of it's analog capability?

 

[pike]

Probably because there is alot more resources based around PIC's. For example there are alot more text books about PIC's compared to Atmel products.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Mainly because MicroChip seem to have been in the market place fairly early, and the chips are fairly cheap and well supported.

Once you have loads of companies using PIC's, with staff experienced in using them, and all the development tools in place - why bother changing?.

I got into PIC's with the 16C84, the EEPROM programming capability was what made me interested, at that time I'd never heard of any other micro-controllers. Once the ATMEL (so called FLASH - actually EEPROM) chips appeared I considered starting with those - but why change for no good reason?, so I continued with PIC's.

 

[StupidDum]

Now i starting to understand why PIC is famous among student.
It has internal eeprom, and ram. LED could be connected directly to pin.
The only necessary external components are crystal oscillator and pair of capacitors, a resistor conencted to MCLR.
Hence, it allows user to concentrate on the programming, without needing to connect ROM, RAM that need complicated wiring.

However, this is also a limitation of PIC - insufficient memory. Hence, other microcontrollers come into play in commercial application which needs higher performance, and memory

 

[libor]

Most of the newer PICs have internal oscillators (in most cases there's no need even for the external crystal you mention). The high-end models can have up to 132Kbytes of program memory and 3840 bytes of RAM, and they also have an external memory bus, that can be used to attach external memory up to 2Mbytes.

 

[John Sorensen]

I chose /PIC (not pic) because it seemed like it had a high cost of entry and seemed kind of complicated for a beginner. I chose Atmel for those reasons, cheap emulators and programmers, free software, straightforward architecture, and an active user's support group (www.avrfreaks.net).

Never been sorry for my choice for a minute. Well, maybe for a minute but then I found MY programming error.

j.

 

[pike]

Brands don't really matter to me. What ever is the cheapest one i can get running is the one I choose. In this case PIC is cheaper because i can find heaps of info on the net for free, instead of having to find books on AVRs.

for now I'm with PIC, but after i become a quite efficient PIC programmer I might go to AVR and reap the benifets of both.

 

[Spasm]

Reasons for choosing PIC:

1. Dirt Cheap
2. Lots of FLASH memory to program (compared to 68hc11 last time)
3. Easy to setup...loads of resources..plus lots more forums on PIC
4. Not sure bout other microCs but PIC uses little power consumption

 

[falleafd]

So, why do you use Windows? but Linux?

1) Windows have many developed applications
2) Windows, easy to use
3) Many people use windows, if you use Linux, you may get problems on communicating.
4) If you got problems as using Windows, many people can help you
5) How stable Microsoft still stand still, you can use windows stably.

.....

Therefore

1) PICs of Microchip have many developed applications, and they are used on many embedded systems
2) There are many types of PICs that are suitable for many applications of your own.
3) PICs have only about 35 instructions to learn (if you use AT89C51, you will see) easy to use
4) There are many professor, technicans, engineering... have learnt PIC years ago to now. So if you wanna communicate with them, you should use PIC. Like why you should use C language or Pascal to communicate with programmer all over the world. Many programmer know Pascal and C, but if you use Basic, you may not talk to old, well known profs. ( I means to Robotics, or other branches profs, not Computer Science profs.. ) ***** Think of it..
5) Well supported
6) Microchip is a strong enough coops, and they still support for many applications. You will see the differences from Application Notes of PICs, and the datasheets.

.....

I chose PICs for these reasons. As you got problems, come to this forum, then ask, you will be helped.

Years ago, I asked this question to choose the most suitable MC to use for my project, then I chose PIC eventhough in Vietnam, it's very difficult to buy PICs. I had to program and build circuits to run PICs "on paper" because I could not buy PICs. Until last year, I was sponsored for my robot project, and I did a wonderful thing with PICs. And I understand more about pics (from Nigel, Chippie....)

Finally, I would like to say thanks to this forum, where I learnt many things from it. And now, I'm back, just to help beginners as I was.

 

[falleafd]

So, why do you use Windows? but Linux?

1) Windows have many developed applications
2) Windows, easy to use
3) Many people use windows, if you use Linux, you may get problems on communicating.
4) If you got problems as using Windows, many people can help you
5) How stable Microsoft still stand still, you can use windows stably.

.....

Therefore

1) PICs of Microchip have many developed applications, and they are used on many embedded systems
2) There are many types of PICs that are suitable for many applications of your own.
3) PICs have only about 35 instructions to learn (if you use AT89C51, you will see) easy to use
4) There are many professor, technicans, engineering... have learnt PIC years ago to now. So if you wanna communicate with them, you should use PIC. Like why you should use C language or Pascal to communicate with programmer all over the world. Many programmer know Pascal and C, but if you use Basic, you may not talk to old, well known profs. ( I means to Robotics, or other branches profs, not Computer Science profs.. ) ***** Think of it..
5) Well supported
6) Microchip is a strong enough coops, and they still support for many applications. You will see the differences from Application Notes of PICs, and the datasheets.

.....

I chose PICs for these reasons. As you got problems, come to this forum, then ask, you will be helped.

Years ago, I asked this question to choose the most suitable MC to use for my project, then I chose PIC eventhough in Vietnam, it's very difficult to buy PICs. I had to program and build circuits to run PICs "on paper" because I could not buy PICs. Until last year, I was sponsored for my robot project, and I did a wonderful thing with PICs. And I understand more about pics (from Nigel, Chippie....)

Finally, I would like to say thanks to this forum, where I learnt many things from it. And now, I'm back, just to help beginners as I was.

 

[Spectacular Butter]

oh then why am i learning motorola in college... what does PIC stand for anyway?

 

[ivancho]

Somewhere I read, if I remember correctly, PIC stands for Periperal Interface Controller.... since that was it main use when they first came out. 8)

Ivancho

 

[Spasm]

Hey spectacular butter,

Which college u study at in Malaysia?
Does it start with a "K"?

 

[0mega]

Atmel are evil. Here's why : when you want free samples, you have to fill out something like

http://www.atmel.com/forms/Samples.asp?family_id=607

Notice the bit which says "Potential Production Quantity" and "First Buy Date"? I don't have the nerve to fill in the values of

"about one, but maybe two" and "when i can get of my lazy fat ass" respectively.

When i get up some guts to ask for some samples, and type in "1million chips" and "tomorrow", then i'll convert to atmel, but for the moment, i think i'll stay with pics.

--jb - sometimes amusing, but never funny

 

[Spectacular Butter]

Hey spectacular butter,

Which college u study at in Malaysia?
Does it start with a "K"?

Yup and it is in bandar utama. U from there too?

 

[John Sorensen]

Atmel are evil. Here's why : when you want free samples, you have to fill out something like

http://www.atmel.com/forms/Samples.asp?family_id=607

Notice the bit which says "Potential Production Quantity" and "First Buy Date"? I don't have the nerve to fill in the values of

"about one, but maybe two" and "when i can get of my lazy fat ass" respectively.

When i get up some guts to ask for some samples, and type in "1million chips" and "tomorrow", then i'll convert to atmel, but for the moment, i think i'll stay with pics.

--jb - sometimes amusing, but never funny

Almost all companies ask you those questions. Some will even call you before they'll send you the samples and quiz you to see if you're legit. Then they say they'll send the samples but don't. If you're concience is bothering you that much then I'd say get a crowbar to pry your wallet from under your "lazy fat a**" and buy the parts. :?

If 1 million and tomorrow is too much of a whopper [of a lie] then say you're a student. Manufacturers seem more sympathetic to the poor saps (also figuring when they graduate they'll get a real job and buy wheelbarrows of parts from the people that were nicest to them), and, really, aren't we all students?

j.

 

[Spasm]

Hey spectacular butter,

Which college u study at in Malaysia?
Does it start with a "K"?

Yup and it is in bandar utama. U from there too?

Yeah man...in Kdu Coll.

 

[Spectacular Butter]

Oops sorry i am from KBU :twisted: ...

 

[hanckmannp]

I think ATMEL AVR rulez

8)

I'm more fond of the ATMEL chips. I love their datasheets and their compiler (which is much better than the compilers for the PICs). I'm well aware of the fact that people like to stick too what they have been using before, but AVR is great.

What I like:
* Loads of choice (from ATTiny to the Mega series)
* What ever you want on it (from USB/ rs232 to multiple AD converters)
* It is NOT expensive and it is easy to get the samples you want (who cares about filling in a form anyway?)
* The documentation is great
* The compiler and the standard libs are great
* I've been using them for a long time !

:idea: Just use what feels right (or what your boss wants you to use (and that s why I had to go to the PICs now))

 

[bmcculla]

Speaking of cool microcontrollers:

Maxim is coming out with a new architecture called the MAXQ (they don't seem to have it on their web site yet but I just got a product pamphlet). It has only 2 instructions (move and move immediate)! It uses a sort of memory mapping for its internal functions; the ALU etc. has a memory address that the instruction addresses. The result of this is it executes instructions in a single clock, even branches and jumps, without a pipeline.

Its scheduled for release in early 2004 but it'll probably be a while before there a decent tools for it.

Brent