Basic Stamp from 1995 in package

[Hobartboy]

I purchased a Basic Stamp in 1995 on the advice of the local high school electronics teacher. I got busy and he got busy and we never got my tachometer project built.  I have more time for this now and would like to use the Stamp. Is there a time limit to which the stamp will "keep it's program" . Do microcontrollers need to "keep a charge" to be usable. This stamp is still unopened in the original "celophane" If I plug a 9v battery into it will I be able to tell if it is still usable. I am new to programming and the stamp didn't come with any instructions. The teacher has moved on but I'm finding lots of help on these forums. Any advice would be  appreciated.

Hobartboy  

[James-K]

There is a good chance it will still work, but testing will be the only way to find out for sure.  Either way, you should be able to find a cheap microcontroller that you can easily program to replace the stamp if it doesn't work out.

[GovBob]

Since this is not a NI product I would suggest you visit the Parallax website where they seem to have a thriving community dedicated to the Basic Stamp and it's PBasic language.

[Hobartboy]

Thank You James.

   I'd still like to know,  once a microcontroller is configured, does it have a "maintenance charge" to hold the digital data in their written "state" ?  Does digital programing "degrade" with lack of charge or does it stay in the digital state forever on a chip?   I've heard that CD and DVD discs degrade over time. I'm curious to know about this.

Hobartboy

[SnowMule]

Hey, fire it up and see!  Worst that'll happen is you let the magic smoke out.

Optical media degrades over time due mostly to environmental factors... I've never had a disc "go bad" due to that (usually because of scratches/physical damage more than chemical degradation).  I use these 40-gram silica gel cartridges in a lot of places - ammo cans, camera bag, safe deposit box... they're inexpensive and reusable.  When I get half a dozen that need "recharging" i'll bake 'em, so i've almost always got a stock of them ready to go.  I toss one of these in my safe deposit box along with the few optical discs just to be on the safe side.

[Hobartboy]

Thanks Mule,   Interesting