Hardware Programming

[DevSign]

Hi all,

Can anyone here perhaps point me to a good starter to teach me about hardware programming? Like building an auto switch for low level water and that'll do something, that's just an example.

Thanks.

[Faultyboy]

If you don't want to work at to low of a level like soldering your own PCB's and learning C then you can have a look at this link..

http://www.phidgets.com/

They have a bunch of ready build or easy to assemble sensors and boards.. Then you can use there SDK to work in some of the higher level languages like .Net.. But I think they support a lot of different languages... I have my eye on one of there USB relay boards.. looks like you could have a lot of fun with them..

[Faultyboy]

http://arduino.cc/playground/projects/ideas#Easy

[xera]

PIC Microchips comes to mind. Or you could get yourself a raspberry Pi, think that would work out cheaper than the PICkit.

Edit: 1,000th post

[Deep78]

hmmm back in the day we used assembler ... but good luck with that!

[biometrics]

I like PIC, you can make really small and cheap stuff with it. But for a hobbiest starting out, Arduino or Raspberry pi. The PIC will require assembler whereas the others can be high level languages.

[CraZee]

I like PIC, you can make really small and cheap stuff with it. But for a hobbiest starting out, Arduino or Raspberry pi. The PIC will require assembler whereas the others can be high level languages.

The PIC can also be programmed in C. As easy as the Arduino.

But I agree, to start off Arduino is best. You don't want to hassle with hardware issues.

[ianst1024]

You can use C on a pic as well. All depends on the compiler. PicKit's software works fine with both

[biometrics]

I see. Been a long time.

[DevSign]

PIC Microchips comes to mind. Or you could get yourself a raspberry Pi, think that would work out cheaper than the PICkit.

Edit: 1,000th post

hey, one of my mates have Raspberry Pi, I'm just curious as to how that'll assist me in controlling hardware?

[DevSign]

What is the most sufficient way of programming PIC microcontrollers, without needing to spend R300. I like to do things myself. Most online tutorials use bought chip boards, and that's not how I want it. I want to start with the basics, as in, build it myself and know why this works like that.

[Sysem]

hey, one of my mates have Raspberry Pi, I'm just curious as to how that'll assist me in controlling hardware?

It wont really, as far as I know, the GPIO's dont have much function yet. Rather get an Arduino, or I have an STM32 Discovery board . Its slightly harder (using C to program), but its quite nice

[CraZee]

What is the most sufficient way of programming PIC microcontrollers, without needing to spend R300. I like to do things myself. Most online tutorials use bought chip boards, and that's not how I want it. I want to start with the basics, as in, build it myself and know why this works like that.

AFAIK the cheapest option is by using a pickit package which costs around R400.
You unfortunately need a pre-programmed chip to program a chip unless you buy with a bootloader installed which will probably still take you above R300

[DevSign]

Okay I found my answer here

[ponder]

AFAIK the cheapest option is by using a pickit package which costs around R400.
You unfortunately need a pre-programmed chip to program a chip unless you buy with a bootloader installed which will probably still take you above R300

Huh? I built a kit programmer board years ago and that was not the case. Most expensive part of the kit was the zif socket. Someone is still using it to this day.