Matrix user forums

Quick question......

I've started to "play" with microcontroller not so long ago, and because a friend helped me getting started with AVR, that was my preferred choice... (even if I already had a PIC starter kit...unopened yet !)

I see that most people uses PIC instead...

Is there a particular reason ? Any advantage that the PIC have over AVR ? Am I missing something ??

Any input welcomed !

Jasmin

Hello Jasmin,

PICs are generally a fair bit cheaper then AVRs because they run with a divide by 4 clock rate compared to the AVR which runs at the same rate as the crystal.

PICs are also a bit easier to understand and work with in my opinion but I know there are benefits of both types of device.

The 16-bit PICs are basically the same as the 8-bit in regards to simplicity but they run much faster so these would be my devices of choice for most projects.

Hi
Just to add to Benj's post, with a pic if you get the config wrong then all that will happen is the device won't work until reprogrammed with the correct settings, Avr's however if you send the wrong fuses they sometimes will lock up and will need to be reset via a hvp programmer.

There is more support for the pic generally online. i would cut my teeth on the pic then maybe move onto the avr, its a matter of choice as to which one you use

Regards
Dazz

one other thing in the not to distant past Microchip tried a hostile bid to take them over. It did not work at the time but it would seem that at some point that they will be swallowed up by an other microcontroller manufature.

Bill

a good selling point for pic is that they keep old parts on catalog for a very long time, so if creating a project now, years in the future you will be able to buy the same chip to program it without needing to change the code for a newer device,
the company of microchip is a long standing company that also seems to care about their wide variety of customers in many ways