Greetings, Peter Hiscocks. I tried sending the following to your Ryerson email address but the message bounced so I am trying to get it to you this time via the GTALUG mailing list. I saw a video of your talk about Atmel AVR parts. Interesting talk. There are a few points you didn't make about the AVR microcontrollers. First, the instruction set is optimized for C. This is one of the reasons I chose to use AVR parts instead of PIC. That and no bank switching of memory with AVR. Second, you can use the AVR part without the need for an external crystal in many cases unless you are doing something requiring very precise timing. If you don't need precise timing you can use the built-in oscillator but it can also be calibrated to improve its timing accuracy. The real "Hello, World" program for hardware (such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, CPLDs, and FPGA's) is the blinking light. The question from the audience "Is the Atmel only on the Arduino?" was interesting. A lot of people associate the ATMEL AVR processors with Arduino when Arduino is more about the form factor and pinouts on a PCB and the software libraries, and programming method than about a given processor. You could have an Arduino board that doesn't use an ATMEL part. -- Cheers! Kevin. http://www.ve3syb.ca/ | "Nerds make the shiny things that https://www.patreon.html/KevinCozens | distract the mouth-breathers, and | that's why we're powerful" Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172 | #include <disclaimer/favourite> | --Chris Hardwick