PICAXE Microcontroller Projects for the Evil Genius

I'll be honest here. I was purchasing a completely unrelated book, and I needed to spend a few more bucks to get free shipping at Amazon. Having just ordered a PICAXE development board and a few PICAXE chips to play with, I did a quick search and found this book. I have already bought and studied "Programming and Customizing the PICAXE Microcontroller" book by David Lincoln (also highly recommend) so I didn't think I needed another PICAXE book. But I bought it anyway.And I'm glad I did.Mr. Hackett did a fine job on this book. It is well written, very illustrative (although the publisher could have lightened a number of the illustrations, many were very dark and you had to squint), and follows a very nice outline.What impresses me the most, besides the thoroughness of the programming information, is the design suggestions that he made. I have, since I was 10 years old (I still have that first breadboard 25 years later), been a breadboarder. I have built and modified many circuits on breadboards. It is a valuable skill, one that can only come from experience... but it can also get tedious. That's why I really like the development boards that are available. I have been using a PICAXE development board (google AXE091) for a few days and really enjoy it, and highly recommend it. It's also why I REALLY like the Arduino with the associated shields for it. But what impresses me with this book is Mr. Hackett's stripboard techniques. First you breadboard a peripheral (LED display, switch, etc) and then, since it is something you will likely use again and again, you can save time in the future by making a stripboard version that plugs into your breadboard. Very nice. But even that can get tedious after a while... so guess what? When you have developed that particular skill, and want to save time, you can actually purchase professionally etched PC boards from his website to make some of these peripherals.I also really liked his logic probe in a test tube project. I intend to make one myself. It reminds me of our high school electronics class when we all made voltage testers, put them in a glass test tube, filled it with clear epoxy, and then broke the glass off... although Mr. Hackett's design simply encloses the probe in a plastic test tube... nice design.I recently wrote a poor review of "PIC Programming for Beginners" by Mark Spencer and published by the American Radio Relay League. I stated that the book was not for beginners and I suggested that the ARRL publish a three volume set, the first being a book about digital electronics (TTL/CMOS logic, etc, which I find an essential prerequisite to micros... then Volume 2 would be a book about the PICAXE, and Volume 3 would be the book introducing the PIC and assembly code. "PICAXE Microcontroller Projects for the Evil Genius" would be my Volume 2 of this set.Nice work Mr. Hackett!

This is a WONDERFUL book!You will learn the craft of designing and constructing circuits using stripboards. You will learn the basics of various Picaxe microcontrollers and program them in an excellent version of Basic. You will construct interfaces to LCDs, keypads, IR remotes, seven segment LED displays, etc. You will construct a working logic probe that is not only cool, but useful!Mr. Hackett is a terrific teacher. The tone of the text is informal, but precise. As a teacher he is not afraid to tell you the mistakes he made along the way. He is interested in teaching the process as well as the finished product. Excellent!One of the frustrating aspects of electronics as a hobby is tracking down all the parts for a project. Usually this involves several suppliers and multiple orders, with delays, expense and headaches. Mr. Hackett has a website where you can purchase the supplies you need painlessly and quickly.I've worked through the first 2 sections of the text and am delighted. The final section describes a robot development platform called Octavius. It looks brilliant! I can't wait to dig into it.

Good book for those who want to learn more about using the PICAXE line of microcontrollers. The "Evil Genius" in the title is a bit of a misnomer though because there's nothing "evil" in any of the projects, unlike some of the projects in other "Evil Genius" books; think electrical shock devices and things that shoot stuff out.:) All in all a good book for the PICAXE neophyte, though I haven't seen very many (2) books on the subject.Con:The only put-off in this book for me is the constant reference to additional reference material found in past issues of a magazine that has to be bought. Though a lot of this additional material would be very useful information, I think much of it should have been included in the book. The end of the book also leaves one hanging with a seemingly unfinished project. Perhaps a hint to a part two Evil Genius?

A very good reference book to supplement the excellent documentation already available at the picaxe website.The author covers some much needed information such has how to interface with an LCD display, a 4-digit 7-segment LED display, and a matrix keypad to name a few. All of the projects are well documented, well illustrated and easily managed. In addition, all of the supporting code and color photographs are available at the author's website as well as the parts needed to build most of the projects. It is obvious that Ron Hackett is not trying to get rich from this endeavor, he is doing this because he has a passion. All of the parts on his website are very reasonably priced.The picaxe is a great microprocessor for the beginner, and this book is an excellent resource for anyone new to the picaxe.My only wish is that there was more fundamental material on how to handle 8-bit mathematics. I find this to be the most confusing part about using these microprocessors.

OK I've spent months studying and hundreds of dollars on pic trainers, chips and books and yes, hundreds of hours reading and I'm back to the axe! Why, they're easy enough to use, reliable and don't require an IQ in excess of 170 to figure out and construct with, and perhaps, integrate into some pretty interesting projects. This book helps you navigate your way through some pretty deep waters in the microcontroller world and get you to the bank safely. That's way more than I can say for many of the books on the subject! If your really serious about this subject matter, the David Lincoln book is excellent as well. I wish there were even more books on this excellent set of chips! The veroboard/stripboard and cutter makes life easier as well. Some pretty decent youtube vids on using the editor/compiler as well. I think this is the way to go for most electronics hobbyists.

Molto esaustivo con il sistema picaxe e con un sacco di esempi teorici e pratici di facile comprensione: certo è necessario sapere l'inglese per poter apprezzare quesat pubblicazione

I just love computer technology and robotics. It gives you detailed instructions about the projects and gives you a lot of cool projects you can do and afford.

Livre très utile et pratique pour celui qui veut développer rapidement un projet autour du picaxe. Avec quelques rudiments en anglais et un minimum de connaissance en électronique ce livre vous met le pied à l'étrier en ce qui concerne la programmation industrielle. Bien entendu, le livre permet aussi à tous les passionnés d'électronique un apprentissage rapide de ce composant.

This is the best beginners book for the pic microchip. Ron Hackett has got the best teaching style, easy to follow ,great pictures that are very important to the novis . I knew nothing ofmicrocontroller s but with this book ,I built a large robot named ANT. ANT runs off a car battery and uses the ezo sensor that Ron describes in his book. I bought this book twice one paperback and kindle as I was learning so fast if I had a spare 10 minutes even at work Iwould be back in the book. Hope Ron writes another book I would buy it immediately. Now I bought this book in 2013 and have only now written a review, why?. The reason being sinse then i have bought at least eighty books aboutpic and arduino also electronics. Out of those books three I would recommend strongly to the beginner. Ron s book , Arduino project handbookBy Mark Geddes , Make electronics by Charles Platt. The easiest books to follow.

Although the book has a constructional slant, it nonetheless gives a very good methodical introduction to PICAXE for this newbie. The construction details and development of programming theory are laid out clearly in succedent chapters. These will be useful reference in future for other projects.