Shopping List Supplement

Physical Computing has a great shopping list in it. I bought everything on it, but eventually found that there were a few things I still needed. This list is meant to be a supplement to what is in Physical Computing, giving some recommendations and things they didn't mention.

Sources:

• Glitchbuster - cheap shipping, friendly service. He's just a guy in Nevada so I try to support him rather than the big corporations whenever possible.
• Jameco
• Mouser
• Froogle

Programming Parts

• Programmer. I recommend the MELabs Serial Programmer
• ZIF socket, if you want. I didn't get one, but instead did ICSP. See this for an explanation.
• If you're not going the ZIF route, get a 10 pin IDC socket, a 14 pin IDC DIP plug, and some 10 conductor 28AWG ribbon cable. Igoe, on his website says use a 14 PIN DIP plug, but I think a 10 pin one would do fine. You can do ICSP with just some wire too, but this way is more stable.
• Serial<->USB adapter if you don't have a serial port. I use one, even though I have a serial port because the USB ports are on the front of my computer. To make things easy you might want 2: one for ICSP, one for serial communication with the PIC's UART.
• PIC 18F452. I think 18F452 is "mature", and Microchip recommends the 18F4520, which should work with all these tutorials. Get at least 2, they're cheap and it's nice to have a backup.

Parts

• 2 Serial Cables. Male to female. One for ICSP, one for communicating with the PIC's UART. You can get by with 1, but you'll need to keep switching it.
• A 10 MHz crystal may come in handy later on. You use the HS4 configuration bit to multiply it to 40 MHz, so this crystal will bring the PIC up to full speed, as I understand. I haven't tried this yet.
• MAX-232: integrated circuit chip for communicating between the PIC and your computer. It can be done without it, but you'll need to do it with bit banging (eg. manually) instead of using the PIC's built in TX/RX funcstionality.
• Switching diodes.
• 22pF capacitors. VERY IMPORTANT. Not in the book.

Look in Physical Computing for all the diodes, LEDs, capacitors, tools, and materials you'll need. Basic electronics stuff.