Alternative to Basic Stamp?

[Eric Griswold]

I'm looking for some cheaper alternative to the Basic Stamp, some kind of
microcontroller:

where I can write the program in Basic, and download it to the controller to
test it out.

reprogram it again if needed (eeprom, obviously)

A byte or two of programmable i/o lines

does not need a $1000 development system to get started, maybe just a dongle
on a serial cable or something.

cheap or free compiler.

OK, it sounds like what I need is...a Basic Stamp! But they are so damn $$$.
I design interactive art pieces, like colonies of interactive "insects", I
don't want to pay $50 bucks apiece for a brain to read some sensors and make
some lights blink...

any good suggestions out there?

eric g.

 

[Rich Grise]

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:05:43 -0600, Eric Griswold wrote:

I'm looking for some cheaper alternative to the Basic Stamp, some kind of
microcontroller:

where I can write the program in Basic, and download it to the controller to
test it out.

reprogram it again if needed (eeprom, obviously)

A byte or two of programmable i/o lines

does not need a $1000 development system to get started, maybe just a dongle
on a serial cable or something.

cheap or free compiler.

OK, it sounds like what I need is...a Basic Stamp! But they are so damn $$$.
I design interactive art pieces, like colonies of interactive "insects", I
don't want to pay $50 bucks apiece for a brain to read some sensors and make
some lights blink...

any good suggestions out there?

Pay a hundred or so for a system where you can develop programs for a
processor that's less than a buck. You only need the one platform - the
chips themselves are way cheap.

Do you have a Fry's in your country?

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[martin griffith]

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 21:44:44 -0800, in sci.electronics.design Tim
Wescott <tim@wescottnospamdesign.com> wrote:

snip

This will be easier if you are willing to consider learning to program
in C. For the stuff you are doing I suspect it won't be too much different.

And don't worry about learning the basics of C. Total idiots can learn
to program in C -- I know, I've worked on some of their code.

I dont remember sending you my code!




martin

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

 

[Rene Tschaggelar]

There is a basic compiler for the PIC.
Not free, but cheap http://www.picbasic.org,
The proton plus.


Rene
--
Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar - http://www.ibrtses.com
& commercial newsgroups - http://www.talkto.net

Eric Griswold wrote:

I'm looking for some cheaper alternative to the Basic Stamp, some kind of
microcontroller:

where I can write the program in Basic, and download it to the controller to
test it out.

reprogram it again if needed (eeprom, obviously)

A byte or two of programmable i/o lines

does not need a $1000 development system to get started, maybe just a dongle
on a serial cable or something.

cheap or free compiler.

OK, it sounds like what I need is...a Basic Stamp! But they are so damn $$$.
I design interactive art pieces, like colonies of interactive "insects", I
don't want to pay $50 bucks apiece for a brain to read some sensors and make
some lights blink...

any good suggestions out there?

 

[Rileyesi]

I'm looking for some cheaper alternative to the Basic Stamp, some kind of
microcontroller:

For the micro, I would strongly suggest that AVR family of Atmel.

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/param_table.asp?family_id=607&OrderBy=pa
rt_no&Direction=ASC

A wide variety of on-board options (i.e. RTC, A to D converters, PWM, SPI,
etc.) and and 'expensive' chip is less than $10 US. Fast and powerful.

As to the programmer, look at BASCOM.

http://www.mcselec.com/

This is a BASIC compiler designed for the AVR family of micros. You can
download the demo software for free or buy the registered version for about $80
US. The difference between the demo and the registered version is the size of
programs you can generate. TONS of support, too.

To show how simple the software is, here is a program that will read all 8 ADC
channels on the AT90S8535 and display the results on your computer screen.


$regfile = "8535def.dat"
Config Adc = Single , Prescaler = Auto
Start Adc
Dim W As Word , Channel As Byte
Channel = 0
Do
W = Getadc(channel)
Print "Channel " ; Channel ; " value " ; W
Incr Channel
If Channel > 7 Then Channel = 0
Loop
End


Good luck!

 

[Charles Schuler]

The exchange rates, $USD vs. GBP, don't make me happy, but they are
still relatively cheap. And the delivery time has been surprisingly
quick.

I am playing with the 18X and highly recommend it. Buy one here for about
$10 (http://www.phanderson.com/picaxe/picaxe.html).