Which picaxe board?

Community General Discussions
1

Hi,

I am currently using an arduino in my ongoing robot project but in a next project I would quite like to venture into the world of picaxe. Where would you all recommend to start, working on a 'cheap as possible' principle ? I found an arduino shaped board on ebay without the picaxe for just under £5 with shipping > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XINO-basic-for-PICAXE-and-PIC-Arduino-shaped_W0QQitemZ320619907780QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=178039127621&rvr_id=178039127621&cguid=5685944512c0a0a9f4b07b50ffe30339#ht_3633wt_1183

Does that look like a good place to start? I don't really want to begin with the start here robot though because that's way too expensive and I wont just be programming to control sensors and servos.

Basically which board/chip should I start with?

Thanks.

2

That’s a really good deal.

That’s a really good deal. The only shortcoming I see is that it only has the serial connection. If you get a board with a USB connection it can power the board as well. I personally love the feature.

If that sounds reasonable, I recommend the MICRO-090 for the 28-pin PICAXEs.You should pair that with the X2 and nothing else. I thought it was overboard when I started but it’s barely enough now.

As far as being stuck with buying an overpriced PICAXE USB cable, you’re not. There’s free Windows software that allows you to use a standard USB cable instead. Other OS’s I couldn’t tell you.

3

Hi, Thanks for the advice!

Hi, Thanks for the advice! I’m not too bothered about powering from USB so if I get a board with a (I’m assuming) 3.5mm jack would this cable be ok to use, using the same or similar software that you mentioned? http://www.sourcingmap.com/35mm-jackplug-usb-data-cable-for-ipod-mp3-p-8321.html?currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=ukfroogle

What I want to achieve is to be able to programme both chips and then from there be able to ‘translate’ code between the two platforms, meaning that I have access to a wider database of code for both chips and also the ability to help other people :slight_smile:

Thanks