3x3x3 Cube for Newbies

Good Afternoon Justin,

I would like to build a LED cube like you have on your site. I have not worked with PIC's before and have tried to research the overwhelming number of sites to get a basic idea on how to work with them. I have started to get an idea as to the basic workings of the controller and from my research I have discovered that you need a PIC, a programmer and programmer software.

So my question for you is? What would you recommend for a PIC (for the cube project, hopefully using your source code as a learning tool), programmer and programmer software that would allow for room to grow in programming knowledge as well as complexity of the project.

I saw you mentioned the PICKIT2 as a good tool but if I understood correctly it uses Assembly and from what I read on your site I believe you said C was better to use and is more versatile.

The other slightly confusing thing I ran across in the forum was you mentioned that AVR would be better to learn on....should I not even bother with PIC and go with AVR?

Thank you very much for a great site, all of the useful information, and your time.

Jeff

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I saw you mentioned the PICKIT2 as a good tool but if I understood correctly it uses Assembly and from what I read on your site I believe you said C was better to use and is more versatile.

No! The PICKIT2 does not care what language you use. It simply takes a HEX file and burns it into the PIC. The language you use is all up to your compiler. Almost all compilers (I don't know any that don't) will generate a HEX file for you. I use MPLAB and C18 (both free for student version) from Microchip when I have to work with PIC.

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The other slightly confusing thing I ran across in the forum was you mentioned that AVR would be better to learn on....should I not even bother with PIC and go with AVR?

I started with PIC just because I started with a Basic Stamp and search what kind of IC was on it and that happened to be a PIC16C570. I was a die hard PIC fan until I was forced to use an AVR when I got the robostix. AVR are, in my opinion, much easier/better them PIC. They are fully supported in Linux (big + for me, probably does not matter for you), have much better pin outs, and have way better through put (1MHz crystal = 1MIPS, with a PIC 4MHz crystal = 1MIPS).

Check out here. It seems to be a decent tutorial. Remember you can always ask for help here.

Another great thing about AVR is Atmel is should release the new XMEGA series soon. I am planing on making a development board for ATxmega256A1 when they come out.

Almost forgot. This is a great programmer for the AVR.

Justin