Nanosoft & Technology

Basically, a microcontroller is a device which integrates a number of the components of a microprocessor system onto a single microchip and optimised to interact with the outside world through on-board interfaces; i.e. it is a little gadget that houses a microprocessor, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), I/O (Input Output functions), and various other specialized circuits all in one package. On the other hand, a microprocessor is normally optimised to co-ordinate the flow of information between separate memory and peripheral devices which are located outside itself. Connections to a microprocessor include address, control and data busses that allow it to select one of its peripherals and send to or retrieve data from it. Because a microcontrollers processor and peripherals are built on the same silicon, the devices are self-contained and rarely have any bus structures extending outside their packages. So a microcontroller incorporates onto the same ...

                                                               Introducing PIC     PIC is a family of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology, derived from the PIC1650 originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. Microchip Technology does not use PIC as an acronym; in fact the brand name is PICmicro. What the name PIC stands for and who actually came up with the first PIC is an open dispute, some think it is an acronym of P eripheral I nterface C ontroller. However, I have been looking thru out the net and found that original General Instruments' acronym for the PIC1650 was " P rogrammable I ntelligent C omputer". The original PIC was built to be used with...