What is a good board that works great for beginners in M/C programming? I believe basic stamp is the easiest to start with. Not sure on that... I’m new to it and want to get some idea of what s good and what’s not. I did make an early post about a kit that will give me a start into it but the chip is not removable. Here is the link to that post http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=8276.

Thanks

 

There is nothing wrong with that kit. It's great to start out on and once you're comfortable with it you can start building standalone systems as you'll have all the experience you need to do the job right. It will actually save you a money.

I'm using an Arduino, it's made by http://www.arduino.cc under a creative commons license, you can get them from distributors worldwide. The IDE (editor/compiler) is free as is the bootloader that's preloaded on it.

When I feel I need to I'll break down and get a programmer for the chip on the Arduino and make bare bones boards to embed into a project.

And now to wire up the arduino to a solid state relay and have it operate my 120V fire alarm bell so I can be *sure* to wake the drunks up at 4am....

 

I agree with mrmeval that your current selection is more than appropriate for your means. I do recall several years back in Electronics Weekly a review of the PICkit 2 from Microchip - this seems to be a good introduction in PIC m/c and PIC programming.

Dave