PIC vs AVRs

[lz5480]

hi...

I'm newbie in microcontroller and I need your help.
What is the different between PIC and AVR.
Which of both have better support (forums,tools..etc), easy to use and to programmed.

Thank you.

[Papabravo]

I'm not sure that it makes sense to do a side by side comparison. Part of this reticence comes from the fact that each family has a large number of variants. In many cases the choice of a part often comes down to the number of pins, the package, the cost of the chip, the peripherals, the cost of the halo, the operating voltage, the current consumption, and so forth. The internal architecture of the ALU and the instructions is pretty low on my list of priorities.

They both have assemblers, they both have compilers for high level languages, they both have emulators, development tools, and programmers. Once you use one, you develop a feel for what it can and cannot do. If you have the luxury I would try to learn multiple parts. If not, let's see what the other folks think on this isssue.

[hgmjr]

Originally posted by lz5480@May 8 2006, 07:54 PM
hi...

I'm newbie in microcontroller and I need your help.
What is the different between PIC and AVR.
Which of both have better support (forums,tools..etc), easy to use and to programmed.

Thank you.

Quoted post

Greetings lz5480,

The following reply is strictly IMHO.

Papabravo is correct, your choice of PIC or AVR is largely a matter of what you plan to do with the microcontroller. Both device families have similar features as well as unique features so the process of choosing one can be daunting.

I am blatantly biased as I recently purchased an ATSTK500 Starter kit from Digikey ($80) for use in program development for Atmel's AVR series of microcontrollers.

I chose the AVR over the PIC mainly for economic reasons. Atmel has elected to make all of their AVR series development tools available FREE from their website. You can download their very flexible assembly language development tool called AVRStudio 4.12 from www.atmel.com. The software development tools I looked at for the PIC series cost several hundred dollars.

I am not very familiar with PIC but I believe that the PIC series devices are mainly one-time-programmable. That means that you will probably have to discard the PIC if your code has a bug in it. That means no do-overs.

The AVR series devices are FLASH, EEPROM and SRAM based devices so they can be reprogrammed thousands of times. They are also In-System Programmable which means you can layout your PC board and then refine your program afterwards.

I have had my ATSTK500 for a month or so and it has proven to be a real blast.

I'm certain that the PIC series is a terrific family of microcontrollers with many great features. It is just that the AVR series made more sense for my budget and application.

hgmjr

[lz5480]

Originally posted by hgmjr@May 9 2006, 02:22 AM
Greetings lz5480,

The following reply is strictly IMHO.

Papabravo is correct, your choice of PIC or AVR is largely a matter of what you plan to do with the microcontroller. Both device families have similar features as well as unique features so the process of choosing one can be daunting.

I am blantantly biased as I recently purchased an ATSTK500 Starter kit from Digikey ($80) for use in program development for Atmel's AVR series of microcontrollers.

I chose the AVR over the PIC mainly for economic reasons. Atmel has elected to make all of their AVR series development tools available FREE from their website. You can download their very flexible assembly language development tool called AVRStudio 4.12 from www.atmel.com. The software development tools I looked at for the PIC series cost several hundred dollars.

I am not very familiar with PIC but I believe that the PIC series devices are mainly one-time-programmable. That means that you will probably have to discard the PIC if your code has a bug in it. That means no do-overs.

The AVR series devices are FLASH, EEPROM and SRAM based devices so they can be reprogrammed thousands of times. They are also In-System Programmable which means you can layout your PC board and then refine your program afterwards.

I have had my ATSTK500 for a month or so and it has proven to be a real blast.

I'm certain that the PIC series is terrific family of microcontrollers with many great features. It is just that the AVR series made more sense for my budget and application.

hgmjr

Quoted post

hi... hgmjr

Thank you for your help.I look at the internet there are many compiler for both.
How about Basic compiler? Does it raise the result as good as if it use assembly directly?

lz5480

[Gadget]

Originally posted by lz5480@May 10 2006, 12:24 AM
hi... hgmjr

Thank you for your help.I look at the internet there are many compiler for both.
How about Basic compiler? Does it raise the result as good as if it use assembly directly?

lz5480

Quoted post

If you want to program in BASIC, then I would suggest the PICaxe series from Revolution Education. They are basicaly a PIC with a basic interpreter loaded onboard (similar in operation to the "STAMP" series but cheaper). They have internal osc, and require only a very minumum interface (5 volt supply and a lead to connect to the RS232 port on your PC) and can be reprogrammed. I use them for a lot of small one off projects, and the tiny PICaxe8M is my favourite, with 5 combination I/O's (which can also be configured as 10bit ADC, IR input or PWM out or even Servo control) and Serial I/O all in an 8 pin package, with enough progam memory for 80 lines of code..(as I recall).
The chips are as Cheap a Chips..( about $4 or $5 each landed here in NZ) and the software is Free from the Revolution Education website, along with lots of sample Apps, instructions, command list and ideas. The PICaxe 18 series is also popular for the more intense projects.
Probably not the way to go if you want high speed or complex functions...

[lz5480]

Originally posted by Gadget@May 9 2006, 10:33 PM
If you want to program in BASIC, then I would suggest the PICaxe series from Revolution Education. They are basicaly a PIC with a basic interpreter loaded onboard (similar in operation to the "STAMP" series but cheaper). They have internal osc, and require only a very minumum interface (5 volt supply and a lead to connect to the RS232 port on your PC) and can be reprogrammed. I use them for a lot of small one off projects, and the tiny PICaxe8M is my favourite, with 5 combination I/O's (which can also be configured as 10bit ADC, IR input or PWM out or even Servo control) and Serial I/O all in an 8 pin package, with enough progam memory for 512 lines of code..(as I recall).
The chips are as Cheap a Chips..( about $4 or $5 each landed here in NZ) and the software is Free from the Revolution Education website, along with lots of sample Apps, instructions, command list and ideas. The PICaxe 18 series is also popular for the more intense projects.
Probably not the way to go if you want high speed or complex functions...

Quoted post

hi..Gadget

Thank you for your suggestion, but... what is the different with Basic Stam?

lz5480

[lz5480]

Originally posted by Gadget@May 9 2006, 10:33 PM
If you want to program in BASIC, then I would suggest the PICaxe series from Revolution Education. They are basicaly a PIC with a basic interpreter loaded onboard (similar in operation to the "STAMP" series but cheaper). They have internal osc, and require only a very minumum interface (5 volt supply and a lead to connect to the RS232 port on your PC) and can be reprogrammed. I use them for a lot of small one off projects, and the tiny PICaxe8M is my favourite, with 5 combination I/O's (which can also be configured as 10bit ADC, IR input or PWM out or even Servo control) and Serial I/O all in an 8 pin package, with enough progam memory for 512 lines of code..(as I recall).
The chips are as Cheap a Chips..( about $4 or $5 each landed here in NZ) and the software is Free from the Revolution Education website, along with lots of sample Apps, instructions, command list and ideas. The PICaxe 18 series is also popular for the more intense projects.
Probably not the way to go if you want high speed or complex functions...

Quoted post

hi..Gadget

Thank you for your suggestion, but... what is the different with Basic Stam?

lz5480

[hgmjr]

Originally posted by lz5480@May 10 2006, 12:24 AM
hi... hgmjr

Thank you for your help.I look at the internet there are many compiler for both.
How about Basic compiler? Does it raise the result as good as if it use assembly directly?

lz5480

Quoted post

I am not exactly clear on your question but I think you are asking "Is it better to use asssmbly language than Basic compiler?".

When it comes to the different programming languages, there are several trade-offs that exist. You can use a high-level language like Basic or "C" to make it easier to write the program. The trade-off is that the high-level language puts you at the mercy of the Compiler designer's implementation of the high level commands using assembly language. Portability of code across many different devices is one of the advantages of high-level languages. Another advantage to high-level languages is that other programmers can easily take your high-level language coded program and modify it to suit their needs.

Using assembly language is a bit (no pun intended) more complicated since you must take care of all of the low-level routines yourself. For this extra effort you get the ability to write very compact code from the stand-point of memory usage. This advantage can sometimes be critical in the microcontroller world since the available memory is often limited.

It has been my opinion that a programmer with a good grasp of assembly language can make better use of a high-level language since they can alway resort occassionally to writing their own assembly languge subroutines to take greater advantage of the hardware. Of course by doing so, they have to be willing to abandon portability.

In the end, the choice of programming language to use comes down to personal preference and your specific application.

hgmjr

[Gadget]

Originally posted by lz5480@May 11 2006, 01:14 AM
hi..Gadget

Thank you for your suggestion, but... what is the different with Basic Stam?

lz5480

Quoted post

To program.... very little, but it is a single chip (a PIC with a bootstrapping routine loaded to allow direct connection to RS232 without an interface) and is very cheap...probably less than 1/10 the cost of a Basic Stamp.
If it interests you I suggest you google PICAXE or Revolution Education.

[lz5480]

Originally posted by Gadget@May 13 2006, 07:29 PM
To program.... very little, but it is a single chip (a PIC with a bootstrapping routine loaded to allow direct connection to RS232 without an interface) and is very cheap...probably less than 1/10 the cost of a Basic Stamp.
If it interests you I suggest you google PICAXE or Revolution Education.

Quoted post

Thank you very much for your help.

lz5480