The FREE version does not support PIC12F1552, PIC12LF1552 Shows up

[Guus Jansen]

TOP204  It is the choice of Microchip to release the products,  maybe they realised that their process is no longer fitted for 5Volt devices. So 3.3Volt is the nowadays Indudustry standard.     Guus

[top204]

That used to be the case. However, virtually all the new 8-bit "F" devices operate from 3 Volts to 5.5 Volts. Some of the "LF" types only work off 3 Volts, but some of them work up to 9 Volts. It's as if Microchip cannot make their mind up!

It is a about time they dropped all the silly differences to the devices and made them all run off the same VDD voltage ranges, but perhaps it makes them look better when they have a large amount of devices listed, but 90% of them are, essentially, the same.

[See_Mos]

I have said it before and agree with Bob, Johan and Joe, Les is far too generous!

[John Drew]

Les, I've always thought your list of free devices was far too generous. I agree with Joseph.
A 18 pin 16f, a 28 pin 18f, and a 28 pin 24f. I don't think I'd bother about limiting RAM and program memory to keep it simple. Sooner or later the capacity to access more powerful devices will be the incentive to buy a copy. You and your good wife need to pay the bills and besides you should be rewarded for your time.
John

[Stephen Moss]

In fact, I have been considering reducing the RAM usage and Flash memory usage available on the "free" trial compiler devices, so they are actually trial versions! Your thoughts on that please?

As I recall when I tried it there was only the 16F628A available and a 50 line code limit. The device was OK but I found the code limit was very restrictive in being able to write anything that would be a good test of what the compiler can be used for, but it was just enough for me to decide to purchase as that was based not so much on what it could do (a quick scan of the available manual commands showed that) but on how easy the commands were to understand, use and read on screen.
Compared to that as others have mentioned the number of free devices, all without code limits is rather generous considering that the more devices you have for free the less chance of people finding that the free devices do not satisfy their needs thereby instigating a purchase.

But deciding on which devices to include for free is not easy as it depends on how much of the compiler to you want people to see, the more you want them to be able to see in term of the commands they can experience using the more likely it is the free devices will have more features and thus be sufficient for creating many project rather then just a trial usage of one or two small projects before having to purchase in order to use a device with more features. 

Device Pin Size: I say the smallest available that is greater than 8. With two 8 bit ports or a 5 bit & an 8 bit port you can run an alphanumeric display on one port and on the other have a bit bashed I2C bus, an Analogue input and some I/O pins spare. There are probably many small projects that could be achieved with that device alone making it more than sufficient for a trial.

Device Memory size: I would think any device with 16 pins or more has more than enough memory space to satisfy different projects and certainly for a trial so the size may largely be irrelevant therefore why not go for the smallest. I am sure that would allow more that the old 50 line limit for a good test but still limits the size of what can be achieved to some extent.

Device Features: I think digital I/O and an ADC are sufficient for a trial, generally the lower the pin count the less features the device has.

PIC16 & PIC18 devices: Is there a really a need to have both? Although the compiler may have to operate differently internally for each device type to the end user trialling the compiler that is unknown, all the user can go on is how it works and from their perspective as the 16F and 18F devices are served by the same compiler an argument could be made that only one type needs to be included to show off the Positron 8 compiler.

PIC24 & PIC33 devices: Internally the operation of the Positron 16 compiler may be significantly different from that of the Positron 8 compiler, but again it is shielded from the end user. Consequently if there is little separating the two compilers (i.e. commands and commands structure are essentially identical) from the users perspective it could be argued that trialling one compiler is the same as trialling the other in which case is including either of these as a free device necessary?
However, if it is felt that the differences are significant enough that at least one trial device should be available for each compiler then the considerations as to which device to use for Positron 16 is the same as for the 16F/18F devices (get the smallest possible thereby limiting what can done, necessitating a purchase when more is required).