Playing with Microcontrollers

Yes that's right folks! Gather 'round and prepare to read about microcontrollers! (Unless, of course, you wish to do something else. Now while I would have to say nothing else can quite compare to this, I'm sure some of you would be able to quickly find something much more interesting to do than read about Gfuss and his microcontrollers. Some examples may include (but are not limited to) the following: sleeping, eating, looking out the window, or anything really.)

The independent study basically consisted of me performing the experiments out of two different books. Both books were from Parallax, the makers of the BASIC Stamp microcontroller. After reaching the end of the first book I did the same with the second. Upon nearly reaching the end of the second I was approached and asked if my programming knowledge could be used to assist someone who was making an electronic rain gauge (yes, a microcontroller at work). So I finished the second book and began editing my comrade's code and circuit design in order to add the ability to record and retrieve the data from the rain gauge. This was the cherry on top of my independent study. It allowed me to make use of both my newly discovered microcontroller knowledge as well as my previously held programming abilities.

study details

entire paper

PBASIC program

pictures

circuit diagram