POT variable

[Faros]

I moved to SMT almost a year ago, this PCB looks like a mother board to me ...  

The 16F1826 is an excellent replacement for the 16F628A and it is even cheaper (10+@£0.91) DIP version , the SOIC version cost less.

[kreutz]

You can use a voltage to frequency chip to convert from potentiometer wiper voltage to a frequency then use a counter on the uController to get the wiper position. 8 bits timer/counter will give you your pot variable from 0 - 255 but you can set a higher frequency range, a 16 bits counter and get the MS byte for more precision.