Micro Basics

Most projects need to output information to people. Many projects use text LCD displays, which are very flexible and can provide a lot of readable information.

But many projects need to display only a little information. Maybe they need to be even cheaper. Perhaps there's only a small battery available and it needs to run for a long time. In these cases a statically driven LCD display or panel may be all that's needed.

This information can be dangerous and lethal if not used properly. It is assumed that the reader is competant with high voltages, and has the knowledge necessary to implement a safe working and use environment when dealing with electricity, and its associated hazards. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. This is provided for informational purposes and does not imply any warranty or responsibility on the author's part.

Phase controlled dimming is a method of providing AC power to a load only during certian phases of the AC cycle.

[Also available in an offline version including supporting files]

PIC MICROCONTROLLERS:

When studying the PIC series of microcontrollers, the first thing to realize is that the architecture is completely different from anything you are probably used to. This makes understanding the PIC quite confusing at first. You are probably familiar with the spinal cord type of computer with memory, cpu and perpherial chips hooked in parallel to the same data and address bus. The PIC chips have two separate 'data' busses, one for instructions and one for everything else. Instructions are essentially in ROM and dedicate the microcontroller to doing one task. There is very little RAM, a few dozen bytes, and this is reserved for variables operated on by the program. There is also very little 'data' storage, again a few dozen bytes, and this is in EEPROM which is slow and clumsy to change.

Links on this page were last checked (by hand) in 2000.

Please Notify me of any problems, or if you have something to be included.

I have grayed out bad links and the sentences associated with them.

I have collected a few links related to PIC (aka PICmicro) microcontrollers. The links have been carefully listed in a totally random order. I've tried to keep nearly everything on one graphics-free page deliberately; even though the page is quite large now it should take less time to download than the opening graphics of most commercial sites. I think all links are "absolute" so you can simply download this page once and use it locally thereafter (you might like to check back every so often to look for updates).

On this page: PIC Programmers and Information, Miscellaneous PIC related files