The big picture - Cheap chips, cheap/free compilers?

From: mc (mc_no_spam_at_uga.edu)
Date: 12/23/04 

Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:09:11 -0500

Greetings,

I've done a good bit of microcontroller programming in the past but have
been mostly away from it for a few years. When last active, I was mostly
using PICs with MPLAB and assembly language, and some 8051-architecture
chips with ASM51. I have a PICstart-Plus and, at work, a universal
programmer. Mostly, I do small, simple things that involve precise timing.
That is, my microcontroller projects are more electronics than computers.

What is the current situation regarding cheap, easy-to-use chips and
development tools? Is the best choice still PIC and MPLAB? What about free
compilers? In particular, are the following well regarded?

- HiTech PICC Lite (how well does it mesh with MPLAB?)
- BASCOM LT (for 8051; and for what else?)
- MikroBASIC for PIC (usable within MPLAB?)
- MikroPascal for PIC (usable within MPLAB?)

I am not particularly attached to the PIC architecture except that I have
quite a few chips on hand.

I know all the major high-level programming languages (C, Basic, Pascal,
etc.) and have no qualms about using them; that is, there are none that I
intensely dislike.

Also, where are the good, moderated, web-accessible forums for discussing
embedded design these days? The Usenet newsgroups seem to be dying.

Any advice and suggestions?

Many thanks!

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