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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Raspberry from a windows guy POV
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djuqa Guru  Joined: 23/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 447 |
Dem is fightin' words. VK4MU MicroController Units |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3801 |
He's missed how easy it is with the 'mites to do I/O with real devices. The rPi has a different focus. I don't think it makes much sense to compare them. John |
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James_From_Canb Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
It's also a matter of comfort zones. Many people are very comfortable with BASIC as a language. It's well suited to small programs, and now that Geoff has upgraded the original version to include subroutines and functions it's easier to write well structured and maintainable code. It's brilliant for IO, which is what it's designed for. Also, I re-read the thread and I thought the comments were fairly well balanced. There wasn't a serious bias against the rPi. There were some reasonable comments about whether the rPi was aimed at the right market, and whether some rPi owners would know what to do with them, and whether they'd end up in the bottom drawer. All fair questions. I can relate to the last one because I've got a drawer full of old PIC chips. And I will get around to using them. Soon. Really. James My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| JakeStew Newbie  Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: United StatesPosts: 11 |
I thought basic died back in the early 90's. Guess I just didn't realize people are still using it. |
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elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
I've been programming PICs in BASIC via PICBASIC PRO and Great Cow BASIC for many years. I've even wrote books on it and sold many so I'm not alone. I've designed products running on PICBASIC and seen some amazing products developed with it as well by some brilliant people. In the end it's all 1's and 0's no matter how you get there. But that's not how the world sees it. This is why I find the success of Arduino and now raspberry Pi so interesting. There were many PIC based modules with bootloader and simplified code functions to make it easier to write code for the beginner. Some were open sourced. BASIC Atom was a BASIC Stamp clone but used a bootloader and pseudo compiled code stored in EEPROM. It even has a built in Debugger. PICBASIC and Great Cow Basic are compiled code that run as fast as C code in many instances but were much easier to write. And most of them had a free IDE you could download. All you needed was a $30-$40 module and a serial cable. Yet because they didn't use C and had that dreaded "BASIC" label it stayed a hobbyist choice. Arduino took the same concept of simplified peripheral control you see in BASIC Stamp, PICAXE, PICBASIC, etc with prewritten commands/functions that many of us had been using for years in PICBASIC and wrote them in C syntax and amazingly it was accepted by professionals and beginners as something so totally new and amazing. So "BASIC" was never dead it just wasn't respected. It doesn't even need the dreaded GOTO anymore. While's and Do While's and Case statements are all implemented in compiled BASIC. There were also many Linux boards available before Raspberry Pi (Beagle board) but cost more than the $35 Raspberry Pi so the price had a big factor in the Pi success. But what's interesting is the desire by many to run BASIC on Pi. So there's proof it never died in the hearts of many. Maximite does an amazing job of bringing the old world of 70's style interpreted BASIC together with the modern world of embedded I/O control. Using a high speed 32 bit micro helps reduce the speed limitations of interpreted code. Now we can run old 1970's BASIC code on a modern embedded chip and not only control a VGA display but also control embedded electronics. Its a great bridge between old timers and newbies. Yet because it has that dreaded BASIC label, it will probably never get the large volume success Arduino or Raspberry Pi have experienced. I mean why pay $35 for a Pi when you can get a CGMMSTICK for $29 and start programming in BASIC right out of the box. www.elproducts.com |
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| djuqa Guru Joined: 23/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 447 |
Doesn't help when articles are comparing the rPI with both Nano-pc's & microcontrollers at the same time. [Quote=raspberryPI.org site]Arduino uses a microcontroller; Raspberry Pi uses an applications processor.[/quote] Jeez I thought they both used a Microcontroller that can be used as an Application processor. 
No wonder people are confused. BTW Basic never died in Microsoft products (Visual Basic for Applications aka VBA). I have never been disappointed by the features of MMbasic, Basic is perfect for the type of programming a small 32 bit microcontroller needs. Granted a tiny 8bit PIC with minimal ram/code can get away with an assembly program. Who really wants to experiment with some little doohickey and continually have to use a compiler. One thing I do find strange is the number of MaxiMiteers that use a PC based edit program and upload/download via the USB. Real geeks use a 1$ K/B and a $5 opshop VGA monitor directly on the MM/DM. 
A board like the Maximite & clones with onboard 32 bit Grunt, SD card storage (Brilliant) , Video Output and GPIO support all running with a MODERN Programming Language like MMbasic for <50$ USD/AUD Priceless! 
VK4MU MicroController Units |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 3801 |
My view is that the rPi success was due to very good access to and use of the media, together with a low price. Anything with that publicity and price would have sold in vast numbers. If someone had done it with the Maximite I reckon the same would have occurred, but almost no-one has that kind of access to the media. I have no idea how the BBC were persuaded (if that's the word) to do what they did!! I'm sure C had nothing to do with it, particularly as python was always the major focus. John |
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