Eight-Pin Projects
By Chuck Hellebuyck
November 2009, Page 56
recently received a development setup that I found quite interesting, as it’s targeted at my favorite audience—the beginner market. It is called the CHIPAXE system.

Improving the PICKit 2 Development Board
By Chuck Hellebuyck
July 2009, Page 68
The one thing I always wanted to add was a breadboard area, so I modified the development board included with the Starter Kit — it’s called the low pin count development board.

SPI Communication
By Chuck Hellebuyck
March 2009, Page 82
In my January column, I described the I2C form of serial communication. This month, I am covering its cousin — the Serial Peripheral Interface or SPI communication.

Assembly Language Programming
By Chuck Hellebuyck
March 2008, Page 14
When I started programming microcontrollers (MCUs), assembly language was the only real choice. I didn’t even know what a compiler was. Now, it seems many beginners and even experienced programmers tend to fear — or at least try to avoid — using assembly language. I will admit that the latest variety of C compilers and Basic compilers make programming much easier, but I still feel it is necessary for a programmer to understand enough about assembly language to write a simple program...

Monitoring Input Signals
By Chuck Hellebuyck
July 2008, Page 70
In this month’s column, I want to introduce a common topic involving sensing or measuring input signals. A wise, experienced engineer recently suggested I point out that all MCU projects involve three basic parts...

Pulse Width Modulation
By Chuck Hellebuyck
September 2008, Page 16
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a common term in today’s microcontroller (MCU) world. What PWM is and how you use it are the subjects of this column.

I2C Communication
By Chuck Hellebuyck
January 2009, Page 68
It's a new year and, unfortunately, economic times are looking quite dismal.

Microchip PIC-Based Resistor Checker
By Chuck Hellebuyck
February 2006, Page 72
This article describes this project and shows how easy it is to use the A/D port with the PICBasic Pro compiler. In fact, I was able to write the code within 31 commands so this could be done with the sample version of PICBasic Pro which you can download from www.melabs.com for free.

Going Beyond 31 Commands
By Chuck Hellebuyck
April 2006, Page 74
The feedback to my articles tells me this series on programming Microchip PICs is a success. Based on loads of email, I’ve helped many readers get back in the electronics game and comfortable programming microcontrollers. That is a reward in itself and is enough for me because many years ago, I was there, too. That success, though, also invites its detractors...

Using The PIC External Interrupt
By Chuck Hellebuyck
June 2006, Page 82
Life can throw you in many directions and how we deal with it builds our character. This happened to me recently while trying to get this article out for Nuts & Volts...

Multiplexed LED Displays And Relays
By Chuck Hellebuyck
August 2006, Page 88
For this article, I wanted to demonstrate how to control two LED displays from one set of I/O pins in a method called multiplexing. To make this into a project for the reader, I revisited a model rocket launch control box design I did back in high school (long time ago) for an electronics competition...

USB PIC Programmers
By Chuck Hellebuyck
October 2006, Page 18
The emails keep pouring in and it’s great. Easy and instant feedback is what makes the Internet so awesome. Though a few people let me know they feel I’m just writing this to sell my stuff, most understand that my goal is to help everyone I can learn how to develop microcontroller-based designs using PICs. I also get several emails from people who have discovered a different Basic compiler and wanted to let me know about its great features. If it gets you programming, then I say go for it....

Christmas Music
By Chuck Hellebuyck
December 2006, Page 81
This month’s installment marks the conclusion of the first year of this column. I want to thank everybody who reads these articles for their support. Since it’s the December issue, I thought I would offer a project related to the holidays. I also wanted to tackle the subject of digital-to-analog conversion. To do that, I plan to have a PIC play a little Christmas music through a small speaker — kind-of like one of those Christmas cards that plays a tune every time you open it up...

Quick And Dirty Hockey Scoreboard
By Chuck Hellebuyck
February 2007, Page 84
Once you learn how to control an LCD module, you suddenly see them all over the place and numerous ideas for LCD projects come to mind. Over the years, I’ve done many projects with LCDs...

PIC vs. PIC Speed Test
By Chuck Hellebuyck
April 2007, Page 19
If you look through Nuts & Volts or surf the Internet, you’ll see lots of different Microchip PIC-based development chips and modules offering all kinds of different features...

C Language Introduction
By Chuck Hellebuyck
June 2007, Page 16
In my April column, I did a speed-test comparison of various PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs) that were programmable in Basic, and then compared a Basic and C compiler. I made a mistake that affected the results...

BasicATOM In-Circuit Debugger
By Chuck Hellebuyck
August 2007, Page 80
If you’ve thought about getting started with PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs), you’ve probably seen the variety of available development tools, such as programmers, debuggers, and the Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)...

PICkit™ 2 Starter KIT vs. PICkit 2 Debug Express
By Chuck Hellebuyck
October 2007, Page 88
If you’ve been reading this column on a regular basis, you will — no doubt — have realized that I’m always on the lookout for a better and lower-cost starter package, or at least programming solution...

Stocking Your Lab
By Chuck Hellebuyck Dave Baker
December 2007, Page 90
One of the more common emails I receive involves recommendations on which PIC® microcontroller (MCU) should be stocked in the home lab.