s. Is a PIC32 microcontroller truly an overkill for a trivial application compared to a PIC18 microcontroller?

QUESTION:

I think a PIC32 is total overkill for a trivial application. Especially when a PIC18F2550 or 25K50 can do the job just fine and can be used on a P8055N-2 board without any hardware modifications at all.

ANSWER:

Microsoft founder Bill Gates ones stated: “640K ought to be enough for anybody”. Today’s PCs have abundance of memory and computing power compared to the previous generations of PCs and they cost equal or less, but we still use them to write simple texts that we could easily type on 15 years old computers with Windows XP.. But it is more fun to have nicer graphics and nice gadgets that come with Windows 7 and Windows 8…

The same holds for microcontrollers: PIC32MX250F128B costs almost the same. It has the same 28-SDIP casing. It has similar functional units, but many of them are much more advanced versions that enable much higher precision of output signal generation and much better input signal analysis... It is easily accessible from a VB.NET application with the DLLs and HEX files provided on PC USB Project website... It is just lots more functionality for an euro more.. Backwards compatibility with PIC18F24J50 and K8055N is provided...

But if you have storage full of obsolete 8-bit microcontrollers and an obsolete microcontroller programmer, it is entirely your problem... I would not use a PC XT today. The biggest problem with PIC18 is the lack of RAM..... By the way, many people think that you need to modify K8055 or K8055N PCB to connect a PIC32MX250F128B adapter, but in fact this is not true. You just remove the obsolete PIC16C745 or PIC18F24J50 and plug in the adapter.... The adapter is really cheap to build... But, you have to modify the PCB to connect a PIC18F2550 and you cannot program it without taking it of the PCB... PIC18F24J50, PIC18F265J50 and PIC32MX250F128B all use low programming voltage and can easily be reprogrammed in place with your own programmer or PICkit3. But, if you are building your own circuit (without K8055 or K8055N), it is almost no difference in the number of electrical elements, if you use PIC32MX250F128B or PIC18F24J50...