About Chuck
About Chuck
I've been playing with electronics since I was 8 years old (1969). Radio Shack was my favorite place to go. I built as many of their PBOX kits as I could afford. I also bought all my components from them. I learned how to solder and also how to debug a circuit from those kits. I also learned a lot of of my early electronics knowledge from the Radio Shack books written by Forrest Mims. Deep down I'm an old hardware/analog guy but switched to digital electronics when TTL/CMOS chips were readily available at Radio Shack.
I also built various projects I saw in Popular Electronics Magazine. I was a subscriber when the Altair 8800 was released which launched the personal computer revolution but couldn't afford one and really didn't understand what you would do with it at the time. I eventually learned BASIC programming in High School and got my first computer in college when I received a Commodore VIC-20 for a graduation gift. Soon I was programming everything I could. I connected an SP0256 ASCII to Voice chip and had my VIC-20 talking.
In college I was introduced to Assembly language and embedded microcontrollers though I actually had my first introduction to microcontrollers in High School through a Heathkit trainer but didn't really understand what I was doing because I was just entering sample programs. Programming tools were so expensive back then and it wasn't easy to get your hands on a microcontroller so it was hard to experiment at home. Then Digi-key began carrying this new Microchip PIC Microcontroller. There were only five devices which included the PIC16C84. This was the most popular because you could reprogram it over and over again without a separate UV eraser. It was one of the first Flash memory controllers though they called it EEPROM memory. The best part was you could buy a Microchip programmer for only $200. And then hobbyist programmers started showing up that you could build for under $100. The BASIC Stamp was soon introduced based on one of those early PICs; the PIC16C57 and I bought one right away and could now program small microcontrollers in my favorite BASIC language. It was great but when compared to a $5 PIC16C84 it seemed a bit expensive when doing multiple designs. I wanted a way to program a PIC16C84 in BASIC rather than spend $50 for a Basic Stamp module in every design. I started to create a BASIC to Assembly converter when the PICBASIC compiler was released from microEngineering Labs. I bought a first copy and eventually became a beta tester for the PICBASIC PRO compiler.
I launched elproducts.com back in 1998 before you could even accept credit cards online. I decided to do design work as a sideline using Microchip PICs and PICBASIC. It didn't go well since I found I didn't have enough time with a day job and family to raise. What I did find is I had all this experience and people kept asking me how to get started. I found that writing was all I had time for so I dropped the design business and focused on writing articles to help others get started with PICs. Eventually I started to offer some of the first hobbyist level complete low cost programming Starter Kits (Programmer, development board, compiler and documentation) and started writing and printing my own "How-to" manuals.
I also successfully published a few articles in 1998 for Nuts & Volts Magazine about Microchip PICs. During that time Harry Helms, who was a Nuts & Volts Columnist and also a publisher, contacted me and said he liked my writing style and asked if I'd ever considered writing a book. Harry was the guy who helped publish the Radio Shack books written by Forrest Mims which I learned my early electronics from so I had come full circle. I could now give back to where I had come from. I was excited to work with Harry so I said yes, I'd like to write a book about PICBASIC. My first published book was "Programming PIC Microcontrollers with PICBASIC". I wanted to call it Programming PICs in BASIC but they didn't like that title.
Harry eventually sold his company just before my book was released and my book was now owned by Elsevier Science. In most book contracts, the publisher tends to get all the profits and in my case they didn't do a whole lot to promote the book. I also didn't have any control on the price which went up quickly because they saw it as a school text book and made my book too expensive for most of the beginners who I wrote it for. Despite all that, the book was a success and sold over 4000 copies which isn't too bad for a niche technical book.
So in 2005 I self published my 2nd book "Programming the Basic Atom Microcontroller". Having control over price, marketing and distribution was great and from there I was hooked on self publishing. I've self published ever since and wow, how that has changed. It was so difficult when I got started but now everybody can self publish with very little investment.
In 2006 I became a columnist for Nuts & Volts Magazine under the title "Getting Started with PICs". It ran through 2009. I didn't want it to end and I had a lot of dedicated readers but N&V wanted to go in a new direction. I then launched a newsletter from my website, which you can get archived copies of here, to stay in touch with readers. I found the various newsletter software difficult to use and not real reliable for delivery. Plus people would change their email and I was spending a lot of time sorting all that out. So after many newsletters I decided to create a blog so people can stop by as they wish to read what I have to offer.
I've now published nine books that I wrote and two that another author has written. My books are my way of documenting all the information I've gathered over the years and my attempt to teach future generations the same way Forrest Mims books taught me.
It's through books sales that I pay for everything that goes into this site. So if you like what you see here please consider buying a book to help fund this site and keep it going and teach yourself how to program PIC Microcontrollers.
I have also created many electronic designs over the years to make developing with Microchip PICs even easier. Through the years I've developed a lot of articles, projects and information about designing with electronics so I launched this updated version of my website to have a place to share it with others. I hope you find this information helpful and informative.
I also built various projects I saw in Popular Electronics Magazine. I was a subscriber when the Altair 8800 was released which launched the personal computer revolution but couldn't afford one and really didn't understand what you would do with it at the time. I eventually learned BASIC programming in High School and got my first computer in college when I received a Commodore VIC-20 for a graduation gift. Soon I was programming everything I could. I connected an SP0256 ASCII to Voice chip and had my VIC-20 talking.
In college I was introduced to Assembly language and embedded microcontrollers though I actually had my first introduction to microcontrollers in High School through a Heathkit trainer but didn't really understand what I was doing because I was just entering sample programs. Programming tools were so expensive back then and it wasn't easy to get your hands on a microcontroller so it was hard to experiment at home. Then Digi-key began carrying this new Microchip PIC Microcontroller. There were only five devices which included the PIC16C84. This was the most popular because you could reprogram it over and over again without a separate UV eraser. It was one of the first Flash memory controllers though they called it EEPROM memory. The best part was you could buy a Microchip programmer for only $200. And then hobbyist programmers started showing up that you could build for under $100. The BASIC Stamp was soon introduced based on one of those early PICs; the PIC16C57 and I bought one right away and could now program small microcontrollers in my favorite BASIC language. It was great but when compared to a $5 PIC16C84 it seemed a bit expensive when doing multiple designs. I wanted a way to program a PIC16C84 in BASIC rather than spend $50 for a Basic Stamp module in every design. I started to create a BASIC to Assembly converter when the PICBASIC compiler was released from microEngineering Labs. I bought a first copy and eventually became a beta tester for the PICBASIC PRO compiler.
I launched elproducts.com back in 1998 before you could even accept credit cards online. I decided to do design work as a sideline using Microchip PICs and PICBASIC. It didn't go well since I found I didn't have enough time with a day job and family to raise. What I did find is I had all this experience and people kept asking me how to get started. I found that writing was all I had time for so I dropped the design business and focused on writing articles to help others get started with PICs. Eventually I started to offer some of the first hobbyist level complete low cost programming Starter Kits (Programmer, development board, compiler and documentation) and started writing and printing my own "How-to" manuals.
I also successfully published a few articles in 1998 for Nuts & Volts Magazine about Microchip PICs. During that time Harry Helms, who was a Nuts & Volts Columnist and also a publisher, contacted me and said he liked my writing style and asked if I'd ever considered writing a book. Harry was the guy who helped publish the Radio Shack books written by Forrest Mims which I learned my early electronics from so I had come full circle. I could now give back to where I had come from. I was excited to work with Harry so I said yes, I'd like to write a book about PICBASIC. My first published book was "Programming PIC Microcontrollers with PICBASIC". I wanted to call it Programming PICs in BASIC but they didn't like that title.
Harry eventually sold his company just before my book was released and my book was now owned by Elsevier Science. In most book contracts, the publisher tends to get all the profits and in my case they didn't do a whole lot to promote the book. I also didn't have any control on the price which went up quickly because they saw it as a school text book and made my book too expensive for most of the beginners who I wrote it for. Despite all that, the book was a success and sold over 4000 copies which isn't too bad for a niche technical book.
So in 2005 I self published my 2nd book "Programming the Basic Atom Microcontroller". Having control over price, marketing and distribution was great and from there I was hooked on self publishing. I've self published ever since and wow, how that has changed. It was so difficult when I got started but now everybody can self publish with very little investment.
In 2006 I became a columnist for Nuts & Volts Magazine under the title "Getting Started with PICs". It ran through 2009. I didn't want it to end and I had a lot of dedicated readers but N&V wanted to go in a new direction. I then launched a newsletter from my website, which you can get archived copies of here, to stay in touch with readers. I found the various newsletter software difficult to use and not real reliable for delivery. Plus people would change their email and I was spending a lot of time sorting all that out. So after many newsletters I decided to create a blog so people can stop by as they wish to read what I have to offer.
I've now published nine books that I wrote and two that another author has written. My books are my way of documenting all the information I've gathered over the years and my attempt to teach future generations the same way Forrest Mims books taught me.
It's through books sales that I pay for everything that goes into this site. So if you like what you see here please consider buying a book to help fund this site and keep it going and teach yourself how to program PIC Microcontrollers.
I have also created many electronic designs over the years to make developing with Microchip PICs even easier. Through the years I've developed a lot of articles, projects and information about designing with electronics so I launched this updated version of my website to have a place to share it with others. I hope you find this information helpful and informative.
