The first of a 3-part series using PICAXE devices - PIC microcontrollers that do not need specialist knowledge or programming equipment

The flexibility of PIC microcontrollers is considerable, and this series of articles is based around a variant of one of them, used with a general-purpose circuit and printed circuit board, allowing nine projects to be realized. The only major difference between them being the program code and casing layouts.

All the projects are based on PICAXE-18 microcontrollers. These are modified versions of Microchip's PIC16F627, a fairly recent addition to the PIC family. They have been modified by Revolution Education to allow them to accept program code written in a form of BASIC. These devices do not need special programming hardware and are simply programmed by means of a serial link to your PC.

The projects covered in this series are:
Part 1. Digital (Nov 2002 - This Issue):
Egg Timer
Dice Machine
Quiz Game Monitor (4 inputs)

Part 2: Analogue (Dec 2002):
Temperature Sensor
Voltage Sensor
VU Display

Part 3: Chaser (Jan 2003):
Chaser (low voltage)
Interface Circuits
Mains Interface