Sorry about all the hyphens :-)
I want to play^H^H^H^Hexperiment and learn about PIC-type systems, and I run Linux on my PC.
Is there a cheap system with a PIC or similar micro: - with analogue & digital I/O, timers, PWM outputs and other goodies - which hooks up to a PC via serial, parallel, USB or ethernet - can be programmed from the PC e.g. into flash - with open-source tools for writing & loading code & interfacing to it?
Initial projects I'd like to try include - measuring temperature at several points using cheap sensors (maybe diodes or perhaps AD273s), sensing mains voltage on-off signals (via opto-isolators?) and possibly liquids flows (if I can find or make a flow sensor)
- similar to above but driving a small AC pump on and off (optocoupler + triac or SSR)
- driving a bunch of LEDs on a wand to make a moving text display (project for the nipper)
I'm looking for something available in the UK.