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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Trying to ID a connector....
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| mozzie Senior Member  Joined: 15/06/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 171 |
G'day ChrisK, At least once it arrives you have it for the next project, the PICAXE are great for those smaller projects where a PicoMite / MicroMite are overkill. The FTDI 232 chips have a setup program that allows the pins to be inverted, this is how my own PICAXE program lead was created before I too took the plunge and bought a real one  A bit late to the party, but I was going to say I would happily program a chip for you if you sent it to me, I'm sure some of the other members would also be happy to do so depending on your location. If you are in a hurry then the offer is still open, I'm just north of the rat race called Melbourne if that suits, PM if interested. Regards, Lyle. P.S. I too love to see "PROUDLY MADE IN AUSTRALIA" on the forum Edited 2025-08-13 16:42 by mozzie |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9626 |
Indeed. This is why I use the 8-pin PICAXE in many things - till MMBASIC comes in an 8-pin DIL flavour.  Which, let's face it, will never happen.  But for simple tasks, the PICAXE 08M2 still rules. How about "Designed in New Zealand, proudly made in Australia." I love all my Aussie chums.   EDIT: Little drunk, please forgive me.  Edited 2025-08-13 18:03 by Grogster Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Mixtel90 Guru  Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8000 |
Overkill? A Pico is cheaper than a PicAxe 08-M2. :) Currently the RP2040-Zero clones on AE cost £1.60 to £1.80. A PicAxe 08-M2 from an ebay rip-off merchant costs £4.56 plus £3.29 p&p. Admittedly you can get the PicAxe 08-M2 chip for 96p on sale (should be £2.40) from Revolution at the moment. Prices are excluding p&p. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5138 |
There is a lot you can do with tinybasic... I have used it (my own port on an arduino, that is) for years for the super simple projects like a 2 minute timer. https://www.thebackshed.com/forum/ViewTopic.php?FID=16&TID=16099#207278 Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| mozzie Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 171 |
G'day, Whilst the Pico / Pico Zero are cheaper, for low current draw the MicroMite wins every time in sleep modes, but a 28 pin chip is still overkill for a timer etc like this. Great Cow Basic is also awesome in a PIC10F but the advantage of the PICAXE is its been tested extensively on their limited range of hardware so you can be 99% certain it'll just work, or the program is wrong  Volhout: I'll have to have a look at TinyBasic, thanks. Grogster: Wasn't aware of the connection with our NZ brothers (was that you?) "Proudly Designed in NZ, made in Australia" works for me Regards, Lyle. |
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stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2601 |
I switched from Picaxe to Great Cow Basic but used arduino boards instead of pic chips and picprog 2 and 3 programmers. real basic compiler to code. not tokenised interpreter like picaxe. they're 328p 16mhz and used pico sized boards. it supports the logic green technology 328 pico board that runs at 32mhz... fastest they support.. all 8 bit pics only. mmbasic is interpreted but using rpi don't matter... it's way better system... imho Edited 2025-08-14 01:23 by stanleyella |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 5138 |
The picaxe chips are Nice, done several projects with them (10+). Last was an alarm clock,I still use every day. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2601 |
that's ok. I thought they were a con. |
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Chrisk Senior Member Joined: 21/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 128 |
Didn't want to start a revolution about the logo at the bottom. I value all our international friends. It just seems to me that here in this country, Australia and from what I have seen in the UK, the crazy anti country ratbags seem to be running the agenda. Most of us have better things to do and it is this small minority that seem to have taken over world politics.  I have been to NZ on cruises to see the Fjords and never got in because of bad weather. Have given up on that idea, four times is enough.  Thanks for a great discussion on the PICAXE, apologies for having hijacked grogsters post. Chrisk |
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| Chrisk Senior Member Joined: 21/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 128 |
Back again Forgot to answer the questions from grogster and Mozzie. grogster: No, I'm right I will use the old matrix board. mozzie: Thanks for that but I won't be needing it now. I too live just north east of the city of Melbourne 30km from the centre. I have to say I am shocked at the price of these PICAXE 08 chips. Anyone know where I can purchase without the ridiculous price of $24+ for postage. |
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| mozzie Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 171 |
G'day ChrisK, I'm 35km North, still a beautiful part of the world for now.... Try Wiltronics in Ballarat, they are good to deal with and freight should be pretty cheap, I would advise calling them to check stock levels first. Also Core Electronics in NSW, they can get stuff to me in Melbourne quicker than I can get stuff locally a lot of the time, freight might be a bit more. No affiliation with either of these but have had good experience in the past Good luck. Regards, Lyle. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8000 |
When I was considering PicAxe I looked into them in some depth. I found another Tiny BASIC interpreter but it was buggy, apart from that there were only compilers. I didn't really like the PicAxe version of BASIC either. I'd spent some time using a bigger TB version on the Nascom and I wasn't too struck on that either, although it was very clever. On top of that, the PicAxe was *very* expensive for what I had in mind. I intended to make several bicycle alarms, using a PIC chip in sleep mode. Removing a magnet from the waterproof case would boot the PIC and arm the device, which would then monitor "mercury" switches to detect the bike being moved. Cost had to be minimal. I could get the unprogrammed OTP version of the PIC for peanuts. I'm a hardware guy, not a programmer. Although I tried, life is way too short to become proficient in PIC programming in anything other than BASIC. :) Also, the Microchip IDE is a huge monster of a thing that was tying me in knots. The PIC hardware doesn't help much either, with its banks of registers on different pages. You can make a programmer for the smaller PIC chips fairly easily so that's what I did, using it with Great Cow BASIC (he's a Pink Floyd fan!). Later I got a PicKit programmer, which was much better. GCBASIC is more like MMBasic in it's hardware support and completely knocks the spots off the PicAxe as the code is compact and the compiler is remarkably efficient. It also supports things like SLEEP. The bike alarms never did get built.... :) I *did* build a "visible 4-bit computer" though. The original design used blocks made from chips for each module. I created modules by programming the logic into PIC chips with GCBASIC, sometimes combining a couple of the original blocks into one of my chips where it made sense to do so. That was fun. :) Then I found the Micromite and I was hooked. I've not programmed a PIC chip since. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1508 |
Back in the day I just used 8 bit pic's and Oshonsoft Basic which will work on a heap of chips even the Z80's  got an email about 6 months ago from Vlad so got the Oshonsoft software again now the fun part will be getting a pickit3 working on win10. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8000 |
I got some software from Vlad years ago. :) I'm still on his mailing list. I've not used any of it since around the time I started with GCBASIC though. It's really good software, it's just that I don't really have a use for it now. His Z80 emulator is fun. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Chrisk Senior Member Joined: 21/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 128 |
Strange thing guys I wrote a reply to Mixtel90 and Mozzie. It appears that TBS timed out before I hit the send. So What happens the the post? Gone into the ether? |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8000 |
I believe that can happen sometimes, although I've not experienced it for a long time now. Yep, sorry, it's gone to the great bit bucket in the sky. :( Some enter long posts into Notepad then copy/paste, just to be certain. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| lizby Guru Joined: 17/05/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 3390 |
I would not personally recommend that someone start with PICAXE at this point. I've done many dozens of PICAXE projects (including this one in which an 08M2 ran for 11 years on 3 not-fresh AA batteries). On my current todo list is to test the hardware watchdog PCB that I have populated but not programmed. I only used the 08M2 because I have so many of them. I need a watchdog because I have several ESP32 designs with Annex Basic which die for unknown reasons but which revive when power-cycled. I'm hoping that the ATTiny85 will prove an adequate alternative (but also haven't gotten around to trying that). PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8000 |
My usual supplier for the ATTiny85 has been out of stock for ages. Back in now at £2.32 each + $2.50 p&p per order. A PIC12F08 is £0.96 from the same source and would probably be a good watchdog if you have a way to program it. It's a very minimalist sort of a task. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| mozzie Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 171 |
G'day, The PICAXE certainly isn't the cheapest option, but considering they are a pretty mature product and the simplicity of the system, for beginners or "5 minute" rush job projects I still find them hard to beat. On the other hand, a PIC10F202, at around $1AUD (48P), programmed with GCBasic is a perfectly sound alternative. I have a design that fits a PIC10F322 / MCP1703 and output trans onto what looks like a 4 lead TO-220, another project to finish..... Regards, Lyle. |
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