I think this article has a lot of good stuff.
If not used as described it does give a lot of great odds and ends
information. ...Chrissi

I was extremely disappointed. With a little extra effort he could
have shown how to interface the sensors with a single chip
microcomputer and written and published a bit of source code. Nuts &
Volts magazine does that every month.

Apparently Jim Weir is stuck in an analog age.

Paul Lamar

Still, you have to walk before you can run.
Nuts N Volts appeals to a geek and techie readership who are willing
and capable of dealing with microprocessors and code. I guarantee a
similar article would never get published in Kitplanes because the
material is over the heads and intimidating to the readers, most
would just turn the page. What Jim offers is within the grasp of
those who follow his hand holding column. I am sure there are those
that subscribe to this list in the same situation. Build Jim's
circuit and you will have a greater chance of success. Those that
get that far and have a hunger for more tech can then take a known
working system and replace the brain with a microprocessor,
multiplexed inputs and an LCD display. ...Chrissi

It might be intimating at first but when you get down on that level
and the light lights in your brain it is probably the most simple
thing I can think of. Programing in assemble language a single chipper
is a piece of cake. It is like having bunch of different things and
you are  moving them around from box to box. Put something in the out
box and out it goes.  Each box has an address. All memory locations
and CPU registers are boxes with an address. It is no more complicated
than that. Any post office worker could learn to program in single
chipper assemble language in a flash. It is very mechanical.

Furthermore assembly language pneumonic are much much easier to
remember than stupid terse C.  This is what is used in C for commands
! @ # @$ % < >' :. By comparison  assembly language pneumonics are
self documenting such as MOV or LDA for move or load. Besides, all
this can be done in PIC BASIC. Commands in BASIC are even more simple.
IN, OUT, PRINT etc..

A couple of paragraphs explaining this or a complete article should be
all that is necessary to get started.

When I first started programming I used only about ten commands for
the longest time.

Paul Lamar

P.S. This is a simple assemble language simulator and trainer that
should run in a  DOS Window. If somebody wants the compiled version
let me know. It would be simple to convert this to a PIC version.

Paul,
This is a really great explanation of Assembler.  This is a really great language and
worth the time to learn.  Once you learn to think 1 operation at a time (neccessary
for all programming), it really isn't that hard.  Thanks for a description that will help
others understand that this is possible for any of the guys (and girls) on the list.  If
you can build an airplane, you can teach yourself assembler.  Really!!!!

Ken Powell

Yes! I thought it was a good idea when I thought of it almost 15 years
ago. If a real programmer put his mind to it it would be a great
programing trainer for a PIC. MicroChip them selves ought to look
into the idea if I do say so myself. Thanks Ken.

Paul Lamar
 
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