Components Bin, Power Supply, & General Electronics
Extrarius
reply after several days, so I've edited it some and I'm posting the
new version here in the hopes that people here will be more able to
help:
I'm new to electronics in that I've never actually built anything
before (I know the basic theory/forumals though, and have drawn up
schematics, etc, but I've never actually built anything), and recently
I have become interested in electronics as it applies to
microcontrollers.
I'm fairly certain I'll have no problems with the microcontrollers
themselves(the PIC12F675, PIC16F877A, and PIC18LF4539 for now) since
I've done assembly programming on several platforms before and the
data sheets from microchip seem to be very complete with respect to
programming. However, the electronics part is giving me some problems.
I want to do many random projects, but I'd like to work toward making
an NES-level game by both assembling the hardware and programming the
software myself. I don't mind using several PICs as 'dedicated cpus',
since I know things like sound processing and video processing might
be difficult to do in the middle of such a 'processor intensive'(for
PICs) game's code.
My primary problem is that I don't have any parts at all since I've
just become interested in electronics. I do have the extreme basics -
some assorted resistors, LEDs, a multimeter, and some wire. I need
some help figuring out what other components I'll need to do general
tinkering with PIC-based circuits.
I know I'll need a PIC programmer, but I'd rather not buy one of the
$100+ programmers. I do want one that works on multiple chips, so I'm
thinking about the $13 "Serial Port Programmer - Socketed" from
www.sparkfun.com. Is that a good choice for a <$50 programmer?
I'm guessing that for simple projects, I'll probably need some
capacitors(of various values - which ones are common in digital
circuits?), some transistors, maybe some more resistors, maybe an LCD
display for graphical output, some resonators/crystals to drive the
chips, and maybe some various other ICs(like what? perhaps a
multiplexer, maybe some 555 timer chips, anything else?).
I'm also fairly certain that I'll need a breadboard, since I don't
want to solder every little thing for each minute change. Again, I'd
rather not spend too much, so I'm looking at part # 383-K326 from
Mouser.com. It doesn't have a power supply since those with them are
too expensive, and seperate power supply units are extremely expensive
as well, but is it a good choice other than that? Since it lacks
power, I'm looking into 'building' a power supply using an AC Adapter
(or rechargable NiMH batteries, but they cost much more), but really
I'm not sure how I do that.
It seems that my options are to either get an AC Adapter rated to
output exactly the voltage level and max current level(not sure what
this number would be) I'd need OR to get one that outputs more of both
than I need and then get a voltage and current regulator (I'm hoping
this would help deal with minor spikes/dips, would it?). Either way
I'd need whatever kind of socket it plugs into to wire to the
breadboard, right? And for the regulation, I'd need the parts listed
on the data sheet to build both the current and voltage regulators
(the chip I found performs only one function at a time, so I'd need
two). Is this the proper way to go about it?
From the PICs data sheets, the desired volage is 4.2V to 5.5V with a
desired 10mA if I'm reading it correctly, but I'm not complete sure I
am (they're on microchip.com if you'd like to look and help me with
this).
In summary, I'm looking for any good
pointers/information/resources/books/websites/etc on what inexpensive
parts are good to have when tinkering with PIC-based circuits, on how
to build an inexpensive power supply for such projects, and any other
general information on electronics/digital circuits that you think is
important.
PS: If you reply via electronic mail, include "comp.arch.embedded"
(with or without the quotes) in the subject or it will get filtered to
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