Hi jcleaver,

Do not get discouraged. The atmosphere on this forum has changed a little, to the mean spirited side of the spectrum.

Like a pendulum, it will return toward the center. As we learn that the forum is not, to flaunt our knowledge and snap towels at each other, things will improve.

My advice is to ask the questions, that beginners have to ask. Ignore the crap thrown at you. Pick the helpful wheat from the hurtful chaff. Until you reach the tipping point of knowledge. Then you, can give the helpful answers, to the new beginners and help the pendulum tilt to the other side. “Use YOUR powers for good not evil”.

You are correct to warn beginners about the very steep learning curve between BASIC-Stamp-s and PIC-s. There are a whole new level of concerns. Things that affect one PIC and not another, absolutely true. But, to compare a BASIC Stamp [model] to a wide selection of choices and then think that choice is a negative attribute is not fair.

Try selecting a single PIC that has the capability to do most of the things that you want the BS to do. Make sure it is a “main-stream” device (search for of posts already out there about it). Learn THAT PIC, frontward and backward. Build the things that you would have built with the expensive BS.
Have fun (ignore the crap answers, on the forum), learn. Then, when you have that one PIC mastered, you can go on to more powerful PIC-s by learning just the difference between the PIC you know and the PIC you are learning. At this point you will be soaring above anything a BASIC Stamp could dream about.

Don’t let ‘em wear you down. Keep posting questions. That’s how the forum is supposed to work. We were all beginners once.

-Adam-