The Hardware and Software
This chapter lets you know what you need in the way of minimum hardware and soft- ware to get started and what you need to do to set it up and get it ready for use.
List of hardware and what comes with it
N The LAB-X1 board (with software CD ROM)
N Power supply for LAB-X1 (with wall-mounted transformer)
N Serial port, parallel port, or USB port programmer for the board (with software CD ROM connection cable for LAB-X1 board [10-pin], cable to go from computer to programmer)
N Power supply for the programmer (with wall-mounted transformer)
N PIC 16F877A microcontroller or equivalent (see list in Chapter 1) List of the required software
N PICBASIC PRO compiler
N MicroCode Studio editor software for writing the programs List of the required information
N Data sheet for PIC 16F877A microcontroller downloaded from the Internet or the CD
List of computer equipment you already should have
N 1Wintel computer (IBM-PC or compatible with hard drive), CD reader (needed only to read software on CD ROMs but nothing else), printer, Windows operating system, and access to the Internet. (A broadband connection is strongly recommended.)