Over the past year I have discovered a great way to control stuff. It is the PICAXE micro controller. They are offered by Revolution Education Ltd, an England-based company that developed the 'bootstrap' firmware that runs on a Microchip controller. The free program editor allows me to write control software in 'BASIC'. The cost for these chips range from $3 to $10 each, based on the number of I/O ports you need. I have 'run amok' having fun applying them to different home projects. See above. I am still working on some of these web pages and will complete them as time allows.
Here is an example of one that costs $3.45 from PH Anderson:
This is a comparative table:
| PICAXE Type | IC Size |
Memory (lines) |
I/O Pins | Outputs | Inputs | ADC |
Data Memory |
Polled Interrupt |
| PICAXE-08 | 8 | 40-110 | 5 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1L | 128-prog | No |
| PICAXE-08M | 8 | 80-220 | 5 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 3 | 256-prog | Yes |
| PICAXE-14M | 14 | 80-220 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 256-prog | Yes |
| PICAXE-18M | 18 | 80-220 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 256-prog | Yes |
| PICAXE-18X | 18 | 600-1800 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 256+i2c | Yes |
| PICAXE-20M | 20 | 80-220 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 256-prog | Yes |
| PICAXE-20X2 | 20 | 1000-3200 | 18 | 1-17 | 1-17 | 0-9 | 256+i2c | Yes |
| PICAXE-28X1 | 28 | 1000-3200 | 23 | 9-17 | 0-12 | 0-4 | 128+i2c | Yes |
| PICAXE-28X2 | 28 | 1000-3200 x4 | 23 | 0-20 | 0-20 | 0-9 | 256+i2c | Yes |
| PICAXE-40X1 | 40 | 1000-3200 | 32 | 9-17 | 8-20 | 3-7 | 128+i2c | Yes |
| PICAXE-40X2 | 40 | 1000-3200 x4 | 32 | 0-26 | 0-26 | 0-11 | 256+i2c | Yes |