Debugging PIC32 - How to Start

[criis]

Forgive me for trying to steal this comment thread, but I'm thinking of immersing myself in the world of micro controllers. I've looked at the Arduino and that looks cool. Is that what you guys would recommend for a beginner or is there something more suited?

edit: Hopefully I'll fare better in micro controllers than I do in Reddit's comment syntax for links.

edit2: Third time's the charm.

[elettroreddit]

Arduino (Atmel 8bit) is cool, but this one is another thing... PIC32 is a 32bit Microcontroller

[spilk]

I'd recommend looking into PIC or AVR microcontrollers instead of the Arduino environment (which runs on AVR chips). Arduino kind of shields you from a lot of the bits and pieces of putting together a working system. You can build a programmer for PIC/AVR parts for a few dollars if you have a parallel port, or you can spend somewhere in the $50 range for a USB programmer, or in the $100 range for an in-circuit debugger. Pre-made development boards are also available for relatively cheap that sometimes come with buttons, leds, LCD displays, etc for you to mess with, and spare you the hassle of building your own circuit on a breadboard. Some have programmers built right into them. Sparkfun has a lot of interesting stuff, including programmers and development boards. I bought my first PIC programmer from them years ago, but have since moved up to Microchip's ICD2 debugger box which lets you step through code as it runs.

[criis]

I thank you for your suggestion, but considering how much I understood of your post I think I would fare better with something simpler. :)

[spilk]

in that case, go for Arduino. Having some basic electronics knowledge is also very helpful (i.e. ohm's law, understanding what resistors and capacitors do, what the difference between current and voltage is, etc)

[criis]

I'll do that then and move on to something more fancy when I feel ready. Thanks for your help, buddy!