SparkFun Forums

[xjet]

I thought I'd grab a few 18-pin PIC development boards... out of stock.

So I thought I'd grab a few 28-pin PIC development boards... out of stock.

So I thought I'd grab a few 40-pin PIC development boards... out of stock.

Dang!

I don't need USB or other fluff -- just a nice prototyping board for several important projects that are about to get underway.

Any idea when these will be back in stock -- or am I best advised to find an alternative (I'll be needing them and a fist-full of PICs within the next couple of weeks)?

[KamPutty]

Hi Xjet,

I use the 40 pin proto board from CCS

http://www.ccsinfo.com/product_info.php ... protoboard

Alittle pricey, but I tell you, its great! You can wire, jump etc with jumpers. Comes with a max232, 2 pots, 4 leds, 2 buttons, keypad and lcd connectors and it can be all adjusted.

~Kam (^8*

[xjet]

Owch! .. "a little pricey", it's like nearly ten times the price

The Sparkfun boards are *perfect* for what we're doing, we don't need anything other than the basic oscillator, ICSP and 5V regulator. Anything else onboard means we're paying for stuff we won't be using.

[KamPutty]

Ya thats true. Their board is great for prototyping...once you know what you want, a plain proto board is just the ticket!

Try these...

http://www.rentron.com/PicBasic/product ... BOARDS.htm

~Kam (^8*

[Philba]

hmmm, I use a solderless breadboard for prototyping. works great except for highspeed stuff. for PIC, it works fine. and, you can reuse until you wear out the contacts (from jammin in those fat ol 1W resistors, 7805s and other leads). they are really great for checking out an idea for even a full fledged prototype with out soldering parts in place (and then having to desolder to make a change).

You often see the SBBs for cheap from the surplus places, I buy a couple every year or so.

[KamPutty]

Thats what I use also.

I purchased 10 of these from JameCo

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... ctId=20600

For $5 each you can't go wrong!
They also connect together to form a larger unit if you wish.
They come with a sticky back to attach to xyz if you need to.

~Kam (^8*

[xjet]

The problem with breadboarding is that it's no good for anything that has to get used in a "real-world" environment.

The stuff I make is often subjected to the odd G-force or two -- so having your components soldered to a PCB is pretty important.

The Olimex boards are brilliant because they've got the basic support components and a prototyping area that's large enough for most of the work we want to do.

The current projects are a jet-engine controller (so there's a few G's involved there), a piece of test-gear for calibrating governors and other bits of electro-mechanical gear and some flight-control systems (more G-forces).