gnupic@linuxhacker.org

	My thanks to those who responded.  I hope this time, I can get
in to the PIC programming operation.  I have been building logic
circuits with individual IC's for almost 30 years and I know that
PIC's can put my projects in to the twenty-first century as well as
in to smaller boxes:-).

	The other big win is something that most of you don't have to
deal with much and that is manageable documentation.  If I build a
circuit with any particular complexity, I may make notes in Braille
and or stuff a sheet of Braille paper or thick plastic cut to fit the
box.  This sheet may hold a list of the numbers of all chips used in
the order they are on the perforated board.

	I am proud of myself if I remembered to do that, but the usual
case is to open it up six months later and say, "HMM.  What did I do
here?"  Then, I must usually trace a few wires here and there to
refresh my memory for the fine details.

	With PIC's, I should be able to make the circuit simpler like
anyone else and keep most of the logic on a disk in the program.
Comment lines are made for this purpose and it is easier to keep it
all straight if it is concentrated in one place.  Unlike print where
you can write smaller to fit more stuff in to a small space, Braille
is fixed and schematics would be absolutely huge if drawn to a size
that really worked.

	I look for PIC projects to be easier to build and easier to duplicate
than the old way of building things and it looks like the UNIX tools
solve the main reason why I have kept putting off actually building
PIC projects.  Contrary to what one might think, it has been the
development software and, in some cases the documentation, that has
been hard to handle at times.  The hardware part should actually be
easier.  I tend to use wire-wrap on the IC sockets and solder any
wires that go to components since the round leads don't secure the
wrap at all and it will loosen in minutes giving you either a short to
something nearby or it will just intermittently break contact and give
one fits.

	When we ever go totally surface-mount, I'll have to find
something else to do to wile away an evening.

Martin McCormick