PIC and Atmel (2051 & AVR) Software

There is a vast amount of software available for the PIC and Atmel processors. Here we'll just give you a couple of pointers to get you started.

Atmel AVR microcontrollers

This has a version of the Bascom Compiler. Even better, the Lite version - a 1K code limit is FREE.

See Bascom-AVR for details and screen snapshots. It's the same compiler, the Lite version (1K code limit is free).

PIC 16F84 and 12C508

Probably the simplest is programming the PIC in Basic. There are several excellent commercial products to do this, but to get started you can use the PicAxe - a clone of the Basic Stamp.

The Stamp Basic commands are defined here.

For informaton on the:

Atmel 89C2051 - an 8031 clone

This CPU can use just about any assembler or compiler designed for the 8051/8031, but one of the best is the BASCOM series of BASIC compilers.

What's special about these is not just their full instruction set, but that the BASIC includes instructions for driving LCD displays, decoding keypads, and a vast amount more besides.

There are two versions:

Bascom-LT  the Lite version with all the I/O commands.
Bascom-8051  the extended version - has floating point and arrays.

Designed to work with the Atmel 89C2051, they're an incredibly fast and inexpensive way of creating software. Check them out - Bascom LITE & Bascom-8051