BASIC Stamp vs. PIC/Picaxe Part II- Compatibility & Mac vs. PC

I made it clear earlier on where I stood in the on going war between the BASIC Stamp Family and the PIC. I would now like to address a point that is often overlooked- compatibility, something the BASIC Stamp 2 victoriously is in winning in. As the war between Mac and PC rages on, the microcontroller industry has been caught in the crossfire.

Those of you who know me, know of my mixed feelings about macs. I love them and hate them at the same time.

They are easy to use and clear, while on my PC I spent hours trying to transfer files from my PC onto a Flash Drive. Macs are more than just computers too, they are works of art, devices from the future, if you will. Their sleek design is matched only by Alienware, now owned by Dell. They are so easy to use I could accomplish much in a very short amount of time. All their software really works, and works well. Rarely do I run into a mac software that is dysfunctional. Meanwhile, the world of PC software is a minefield, with Trojan horses and viruses awaiting one false step.

One of my biggest complaints however, is the lack of computer programming languages available on Macs. The entire .NET framework will never be available to Apple, that fact is indisputable. How am I supposed to program robots, write simulations, and create interfaces on my mac? The answer to this question is getting better and better every year.

I can now freely write PYTHON code without using Parallels, which is like throwing a dice: 5 out of 6 times it "unexpectedly quits" before the first line of code can be written.





This is where the BASIC Stamp vs. PIC conflict comes in. BASIC Stamp has something else no PIC has: (Almost) Universal Compatibility. I can now do more than just write in PYTHON, I can program robots, machines, and more with single-chip computers! All this on the go, on my mac.

The only flaw I found was that a serial to USB converter was needed to load code onto the BS2. At Radioshack, the salesman handed me a converter costing a womping thirty dollars. I pointed out that on the back was a sign that said "For Windows 98 or later". I asked him if it would work on my mac. He paused, as if thinking about an astrophysics formula.

"Possibly..." he told me.

Unconvinced, I asked him, "Possibly?".

His "Possibly" turned into a "Probably" rather quickly.

Sure enough, it didn't work.

I need to now return it, and get the correct one from Amazon. Of course, I blame radioshack for this, not parallax.





Finally, there is something about the BASIC Stamp 2 editor that no other computer programming software has: it is aesthetically pleasing. That's a first compared to the other PC programs that only a mother would love.