"Avery Fineman" wrote in message
...

Try a dose of realistic thinking in terms of hardware, based on the
time available for hobby projects. Time. That most precious of all
personal commodities.

Programming a microcontroller is not trivial. It requires a new skill,

I have to admit, I do try to discourage people, perhaps with a little too
much fervor, from being afraid of using micros. They are a lot simpler
than most folks realize.

One MUST become familiar with "Assembler level" programming, of
including every single sequential command and decision point needed
by the program application.

And this is different from designing with discrete logic how?

The most convenient was to apply a microprocessor or micro-
controller is to get one with the program already burned in. Saves an
enormous amount of development time...but does not do any good for
personal programming experience, only in the installation of the micro.

Yes, but it has become clear that the original poster had a rather specific
application that he is not going to be able to get off the shelf for a
reasonable price. He will need to take an existing design and alter it, or
roll his own.

Yes and no. :-) That depends on the source of information for the
project. Magazines don't like to include pages of a PIC program since

No, but they always provide links to the code online. Have you opened a
copy of QST lately?

Of course. :-) The pep-rally over-confidence syndrome...one can do
anything with a "positive outlook"...immediately...no problems at all,
right? :-)

Absolutely g

Why bash anyone for wanting to use LEDs instead of LCDs? There
are advantages to each kind of display. For a personal project, I
would think that it is up to the individual to determine individual
desires. Is there something "wrong" with individualism? I think not.

Certainly, I don't think there is anything wrong with using LEDs. But the
original poster was looking for something low current - not a real strong
suit for LEDs. He was looking for something simple. LEDs are a problem
there, too, because of the drive circuitry. If he is going to count
frequency, within a project that he can get done this year, he is going to
use a microcontroller of some ilk. Building a frequency counter from
discrete parts is a huge job. And then, he wants it small. Again, the
whole discrete logic thing makes that nearly impossible for the hobbyist.
To top is off, he wants low current. Yes, absolutely doable with LEDs but
with a huge added cost in complexity, especially if you decide up front no
micros.

Frequency counters used to cost thousands of dollars. Today they are orders
of magnitude cheaper because they are orders of magnitude simpler. And they
are orders of magnitude simpler because virtually all the circuitry is in
the micro. I just took a quick look at my counter - under 20 parts. Go to
LEDs and you probably triple that. But take out the micro and you are
talking about hundreds of parts.

Perhaps I am downplaying the difficulty in learning how to apply micros, but
you are certainly downplaying the difficulty of not applying them in this
context.

It sounds like maybe you had some sort of anlog frequency display in mind,
which I don't quite picture. Might be a cool thing, though.

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