Hey Mindaugas / Leo / IOCards folks, whoever hacks on PICs, Microchip has new products available, supporting 13 AD-lines and 34 IO lines.. This sounds like a pretty interesting basis for cheap USB devices in the spirit of MJoy / Plasma MiniME / IOCards usb modules.. One can do quite a lot with 13 potentiometers... around $6 a piece those look like great things to build on..I'd love to buy a few PCboards + component kits if IOCards created a new AD-module from these.. :)//Tuomas

>Hey Mindaugas / Leo / IOCards folks, whoever hacks on PICs,>Microchip has new products available, supporting 13 AD-lines>and 34 IO lines.. This sounds like a pretty interesting basis>for cheap USB devices in the spirit of MJoy / Plasma MiniME />IOCards usb modules.. One can do quite a lot with 13>potentiometers... around $6 a piece those look like great>things to build on..Are you talking about those 18F4550 / 18F4455 / 18F2550 / 18F2455 ?I've been wanting to play with them but haven't had the time. I already bought one back in Dezember... :(But they will be a bit more expensive than $6 ...Manuel

>But they will be a bit more expensive than $6 ...Yeah but they can also do a low more then a 16f84 ;)Able to run at speed up to 40mhz (if i remember correctly), up to 8 pwm channels able to be mixed for h-bridge control, usb, and many many more things...Look very promising indeed!

>>But they will be a bit more expensive than $6 ...>>Yeah but they can also do a low more then a 16f84 ;)I know... but the '84 has been out of date for several years.Even its successor, the '628 is now outdated.I now work nearly exclusively with 18F parts. Less hassle with banking, and has a few convenient instructions that the 16F don't have.(BTW: I wasn't suggesting that this USB PIC was expensive, just that the 6 dollar figure wasn't what people should expect in a store/mail order place.)>Able to run at speed up to 40mhz (if i remember correctly), upThe 18F parts run at 40MHz (10MIPS). *But* .. the USB parts need to run at 48MHz. (Has to do with the USB clocking AFAIK)>to 8 pwm channels able to be mixed for h-bridge control, usb,>and many many more things...>Look very promising indeed!Microchip has so many different PICs, but that tends to get more confusing every time they add new chips to their product line.Manuel

>Microchip has so many different PICs, but that tends to get>more confusing every time they add new chips to their product>line.uPICs are not end user products ;)And even in the end user market there are literally tons of products more or less the same ;)So if a total noob can choose a laptop, someone who knows something about electronics can surely choose a PIC ;)

>uPICs are not end user products ;)Who are you telling this? Of course they are not, but still a popular choice among electronics hobbyists.>So if a total noob can choose a laptop, someone who knows>something about electronics can surely choose a PIC ;)Of course they can, thats not the point. (And comparing that with a "noob" choosing a laptop... its just not the same. A "noob" doesn't have to write the OS for that laptop for exampleBuying a laptop is more like buying a toaster. :-) )Manuel