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Newbie - hardware

T

Thomas Ruschival

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,
I am an untainted newbie in the microcontroller world, altough a Programmer
and a student of electronic engineering. First I go to state that my target
isn't to have a solution as soon as possible but to learn alot about the
subject. So I want to layout and build my own board and not by a development
board. The Problem is there are thousands of Microcontrollers that do almost
the same - I need a quite univeral one, so I can use it for different
projects.
Requirements:
1.) it must be able to communicate with a RS232 interface
2.) I'd like to program it with standard C on my computer, thus i must be able
to load programs through a RS232/USB interface. I don't want to buy
programming hardware.
3.) It should be powerful enough to control a 4 line LCD. and have some input
pins for buttons.
4.) onchip RAM and FLASH for the program would be great.

Can you recommend me a chip or books where to start studying this subject. BTW
can you recommend me a distributor for chips and LCDs in Germany.

Thanks
Thomas
 
H

happyhobit

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi Thomas,

Well I like the AVR 8-Bit RISC microcontrollers. Free assemblers,
C-compilers, simulators and IDE's.

I program through a parallel interface (4 resisters and a ribbon cable) but
I've seen several schematics for a serial interface. A 6 or 10 pin header on
the application board is all you need for low voltage in circuit
programming.

Fast, one instruction per clock cycle.

30 different processors from 8 pin to 40 pin.

Flash, Ram, EEprom.

Check it out;

http://www.avrfreaks.net/

and

http://www.atmel.com/

Jay
 
R

Rich Webb

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,
I am an untainted newbie in the microcontroller world, altough a Programmer
and a student of electronic engineering. First I go to state that my target
isn't to have a solution as soon as possible but to learn alot about the
subject. So I want to layout and build my own board and not by a development
board.

Still, having a development board does remove one very large variable
from trying to bring up a new processor for the first time.
The Problem is there are thousands of Microcontrollers that do almost
the same - I need a quite univeral one, so I can use it for different
projects.

Unless you have specific requirements to the contrary, you probably want
to start with a uC that is in-system programmable. Given that, you are
free to build it into the board of your choice.
Requirements:
1.) it must be able to communicate with a RS232 interface

A slightly smaller subset of in-system programmable devices can be
programmed with a serial bootloader. They may have the capability to use
a serial bootloader but the off-the-shelf new devices don't have the
bootloader pre-installed.
2.) I'd like to program it with standard C on my computer, thus i must be able
to load programs through a RS232/USB interface. I don't want to buy
programming hardware.

A direct USB interface is much rarer then even the serial bootloader.
You can find plenty of designs on the 'net for programmers for the
various families but the home-made units are usually family specific.
3.) It should be powerful enough to control a 4 line LCD. and have some input
pins for buttons.
4.) onchip RAM and FLASH for the program would be great.

Can you recommend me a chip or books where to start studying this subject.

Even though you're not enthusiastic about the idea, I'd still recommend
starting with a development board, specifically the Atmel STK-500. It
supports all of the DIP-formfactor AVR chips and can also be used to
program in-system to a device on another board. Atmel also has a plain
old in-system programming pod (AVRISP) that's quite inexpensive. There
are also build-your-own AVR programmers. See www.avrfreaks.com for much
more information.
 
A

Alex Gibson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Rich Webb said:
Still, having a development board does remove one very large variable
from trying to bring up a new processor for the first time.


Unless you have specific requirements to the contrary, you probably want
to start with a uC that is in-system programmable. Given that, you are
free to build it into the board of your choice.


A slightly smaller subset of in-system programmable devices can be
programmed with a serial bootloader. They may have the capability to use
a serial bootloader but the off-the-shelf new devices don't have the
bootloader pre-installed.


A direct USB interface is much rarer then even the serial bootloader.
You can find plenty of designs on the 'net for programmers for the
various families but the home-made units are usually family specific.


Even though you're not enthusiastic about the idea, I'd still recommend
starting with a development board, specifically the Atmel STK-500. It
supports all of the DIP-formfactor AVR chips and can also be used to
program in-system to a device on another board. Atmel also has a plain
old in-system programming pod (AVRISP) that's quite inexpensive. There
are also build-your-own AVR programmers. See www.avrfreaks.com for much
more information.

I'd second this.

stk500 is really nice to work with.
For protyping with it, easiest option
is get some of the baritek plugin proto boards
http://www.baritek.com/stk_proto_1.htm

To get started www.avrfreaks.com



If thats a bit expensive, the dontronics simmstick
boards are easy to use.
http://www.dontronics.com/auto.html
http://www.dontronics.com/dt006.html
http://www.dontronics.com/ssinfo.html


For pics (microchip pic) see the piclist www.piclist.com

Laying out your own board won't really teach you that much about the
microcontroller other than ports and some of the characteristics.

Best way is write code and debug it.

Start by downloading some of the beginners type code on avrfraks under projects under academy.
compile then simulate them in avr studio4(4 is nicer for beginners).

Then start modifying the programs to do other things.

Alex


Alex
 
H

happyhobit

Jan 1, 1970
0
Me, I like to "Do It Yourself"

A proto-board for an ATTiny-12(5 I/O, internal clock) requires a 8-pin
socket and an ISP header. You'll need a power supply and some I/O (a
battery, push buttons and LED's). For a microcontroller to run an LCD
display I used an AT90S1200(15 I/O). That would require a 20-pin socket, a
crystal and a couple of caps and an ISP header. The parallel port
programmer I built used 4 resisters, a 25 pin connector and a ribbon cable
and connector for the ISP header. KISS

Buying stuff is fine, knowing how it works is better. Just my opinion. I've
been playing with micros since the '70's.

Jay

P.S. My tale of woe in purchasing off the shelf products.

I bought a programming dongle(pod?) and Proto-board from a distributor and
they even included a microcontroller, an AT90S2343 (total cost including
shipping $32). Problem was the microcontroller wasn't compatible with the
proto-board. The proto-board had a 10 MHz crystal and the 2343, of course,
won't work with a crystal, not a big help.

I then built my own Dongle and proto-board and got them working. Then by
reverse engineering, and a lot of reading, determined the problem with my
original purchase.

I contacted the manufacturer and pointed out that their claim that the 2343
would work on their board was wrong. I contacted the distributor and told
them that the board and chip they were selling wouldn't work together. The
manufacturer and distributor ignored me and are still claiming and selling
as before. (Olimex Ltd and Spark Fun Electronics)

I'm sure that the STK-500 wouldn't have these problems. Just let the buyer
beware.
 
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