Congratulations on breaking through the Parallax-centered world of Nuts and Volts, Don!
Tom
Nuts and Volts article
Nuts and Volts article
> ... Did Fred do a good job?
Not bad. Clearly written by a ZBasic beginner, it is a short article
that does not get into any depth but rightly praises the ZX-24a and
mentions the 328. It makes the obligatory "Stamp-compatible" comparison.
My BMW has four wheels like a Model-T, too.
Tom
Not bad. Clearly written by a ZBasic beginner, it is a short article
that does not get into any depth but rightly praises the ZX-24a and
mentions the 328. It makes the obligatory "Stamp-compatible" comparison.
My BMW has four wheels like a Model-T, too.
Tom
Tom
My copy arrived around noon. I was hoping for a bit more depth. A few months back he did a multi-part series using PIC Basic Pro to do an ethernet app (after posting to the PBP forum and exchanging a few emails). I had suggested he might do something similar with the ZX-328n and the ENC28J60. I guess he needed a quickie filler. Maybe he'll do something meatier later. He's not an Atmel fan so even this was a bit of a plus. At least, he spelled the name right and is now aware of ZBasic. 
He lives down your way, Tom. Maybe you can twist his arm.
He lives down your way, Tom. Maybe you can twist his arm.
I bet you are right on track. With one actual project he can get 2 or 3 articles out if it. One consisting of his initial impressions of the device and summarizing its capabilities. Then another is written as he gets into actual programming of the device for a useful app, then a third when he completes a much bigger app. It would be especially interesting if that big app were a duplicate of something he already did like the ethernet app you mentioned. I think that the ZX system could make the whole app a lot easier than on the other hardware, and a direct comparison might highlight the advantages of the ZX system and rightfully create a lot of converts!dlh wrote:I guess he needed a quickie filler. Maybe he'll do something meatier later.
I am not familiar with the authors preference for (prejudice?) PICs. For my own purposes, the small added cost of an AVR is more than offset by the improved support hardware, and reasonable ease of use.
-Tony
The author wrote a column for Circuit Cellar for many years and has been writing this column for Nuts & Volts for a little more than a year, now. His disdain for Atmel (the company) stems from his perception of their lack of support for authors like him while Microchip is helpful and cooperative. He really did not express an opinion, at least to me, on the hardware itself. Since he is fundamentally a C programmer, I would expect him to find Atmel architecture easier to handle.
And the Pic Basic Pro project was, in essence, a recycling of an earlier C based project (Framethrower) so he may indeed recycle and update something for ZBasic. It wouldn't hurt to send him email telling him how great ZBasic is and urging more articles based on it.
And the Pic Basic Pro project was, in essence, a recycling of an earlier C based project (Framethrower) so he may indeed recycle and update something for ZBasic. It wouldn't hurt to send him email telling him how great ZBasic is and urging more articles based on it.
Good point! And I WOULD like to see more articles like that, although I do not have a subscription. Probably at the very least I should get a copy of that edition and read it before I send him an email....dlh wrote:It wouldn't hurt to send him email telling him how great ZBasic is and urging more articles based on it.
-Tony
Fred is going to investigate porting his ENC28J60 code to the ZX-328n so maybe we'll see another N&V article that uses ZBasic.
Fred has told me in the past that he likes to do articles based on reader suggestions so if any of you have a pet project you'd like him to do his email address is at the end of the current article.
Fred has told me in the past that he likes to do articles based on reader suggestions so if any of you have a pet project you'd like him to do his email address is at the end of the current article.