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Purchase microcontroller dev. kit

Hi all,

I am new to this and i hope to purchase a development kit for dev.
microcontrollers. Due to the numerous varieties available in the
market, i am lost as where i should start and what stuffs to look out
for when purchasing these kits.

Tks
ywz
 
M

mkaras

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi all,

I am new to this and i hope to purchase a development kit for dev.
microcontrollers. Due to the numerous varieties available in the
market, i am lost as where i should start and what stuffs to look out
for when purchasing these kits.

Tks
ywz

There are many kits because there are many different types of
microcontrollers from a multitude of manufacturers. The intended
application, your current expertise, and some other factors such as how
you want to craft the additional circuitry that you may want to add to
the DEV board will determine what you end up purchasing.

I happen to recommend the Dev Kits that you can get from SiLabs. These
are low cost, come with super nice code debug support and include a CD
with a OEM version of the Keil 8051 tool set that lets you make small
test and experiment programs without having to also first buy an
expensive tool set. You can see some applications ideas around using
these kits at:

http://www.carouseldesign.com/SiLabsEval.html

and

http://www.carouseldesign.com/SiLabs_ICD.html

- mkaras
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi all,

I am new to this and i hope to purchase a development kit for dev.
microcontrollers. Due to the numerous varieties available in the
market, i am lost as where i should start and what stuffs to look out
for when purchasing these kits.

Whatever you buy, make sure the microcontroller has one addressing
space (no 8051, no AVR, no PIC) if you want to keep your code
portable. You wouldn't be the first developer who has found the
platform that looked so promising in the past turns out to be a
deadlock.
 
Nico said:
Whatever you buy, make sure the microcontroller has one addressing
space (no 8051, no AVR, no PIC) if you want to keep your code
portable. You wouldn't be the first developer who has found the
platform that looked so promising in the past turns out to be a
deadlock.


No 8051, no AVR, no PIC? What *would* you recommend, then? ;-)

I'm in a similar boat as the OP. I've found, though, that there seem
to be a LOT of books on PIC development, and not all that many on the
AVR. (Even my local Borders Bookstore had no fewer than 4 books on PIC
projects, PIC robotics, etc.)

Michael
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
No 8051, no AVR, no PIC? What *would* you recommend, then? ;-)

Hitachi/Renesas H8 / H8S, Texas Instruments MSP430, Analog Devices
Blackfin DSP.
 
D

Donald

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nico said:
Hitachi/Renesas H8 / H8S, Texas Instruments MSP430, Analog Devices
Blackfin DSP.

Oh crap, now you did IT !!!

The religous war about my CPU is better than your CPU is going to start.

Please [email protected] just purchase a working board and start
playing with it. After a while ( days, weeks, months, depends on your
time) you will get to know one cpu and all the others are "just the
same" as far as development is concerned.

They all have quirks, they all require time to understand.

If there is a user group in your area, find it and you will also find
help in getting what you want running.

There is NO best processor, this is too small or too large, but you will
learn this for yourself.

Good Luck and let us know what you found.

donald
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Donald said:
Oh crap, now you did IT !!!

The religous war about my CPU is better than your CPU is going to start.

No not at all. Look at the big picture here. Its not the CPU that
matters, its where you want to go in the future that matters!

A choice for a CPU should be driven by the question: "What if I want
to move to a different platform". With some platforms the answer to
this question is: "throw away everything you wrote and start over". So
a choice for a platform should be made with great care.
There is NO best processor, this is too small or too large, but you will
learn this for yourself.

That's exactly why I listed a general purpose microcontroller series,
a micropower series and a full blown 300+ MHz 32 bit DSP with MMU
capable of running a genuine OS like Linux. However, generic C code
written for one, can be moved to the other.
 
L

linnix

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yeap, as usual.
No not at all. Look at the big picture here. Its not the CPU that
matters, its where you want to go in the future that matters!

A choice for a CPU should be driven by the question: "What if I want
to move to a different platform". With some platforms the answer to
this question is: "throw away everything you wrote and start over". So
a choice for a platform should be made with great care.

If you take this approach, you would never do anything. There is
always something better coming up. May I ask how many actual designs
have you done?
That's exactly why I listed a general purpose microcontroller series,
a micropower series and a full blown 300+ MHz 32 bit DSP with MMU
capable of running a genuine OS like Linux. However, generic C code
written for one, can be moved to the other.

Why do you think the OP needs a 32 bits DSP? Well written C codes
should not have much problem moving between 8051, PIC or AVR.
 
linnix said:
Yeap, as usual.


If you take this approach, you would never do anything. There is
always something better coming up. May I ask how many actual designs
have you done?


Why do you think the OP needs a 32 bits DSP? Well written C codes
should not have much problem moving between 8051, PIC or AVR.


Aye. And what about those 4-bit PIC chips. Really cheap. Don't need
a 32 bit DSP for running a toaster...

Michael
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nico said:
No not at all. Look at the big picture here. Its not the CPU that
matters, its where you want to go in the future that matters!

A choice for a CPU should be driven by the question: "What if I want
to move to a different platform". With some platforms the answer to
this question is: "throw away everything you wrote and start over". So
a choice for a platform should be made with great care.


That's exactly why I listed a general purpose microcontroller series,
a micropower series and a full blown 300+ MHz 32 bit DSP with MMU
capable of running a genuine OS like Linux. However, generic C code
written for one, can be moved to the other.

Gee that's stange, how on earth have I moved C code almost seamlessly
from a PIC to an AVR to a Rabbit then?

You can't be serious suggesting that a beginner think about the "big
picture" and choose some oddball processor based on some perceived
future requirement, that is crazy.
A beginner needs something that is common beginner platform so that
they can get tons of support, sample code, books and other beginner
level stuff etc That basically means PIC or AVR these days, that's
where the action is.
I'd suggest the OP start on the PICAXE, it is the easiest introduction
possible. Work up from there.

Dave :)
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
linnix said:
Yeap, as usual.


If you take this approach, you would never do anything. There is
always something better coming up. May I ask how many actual designs
have you done?

Countless with a delivery date set to yesterday.
Why do you think the OP needs a 32 bits DSP? Well written C codes
should not have much problem moving between 8051, PIC or AVR.

Funny to see how '32 bit DSP' works like a red flag on a bull on some
people. Take a deep breath and read again. The range of controllers I
suggested goes from less than 16 pins to over 256 pins.
 
L

linnix

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nico said:
Countless with a delivery date set to yesterday.


Funny to see how '32 bit DSP' works like a red flag on a bull on some
people. Take a deep breath and read again. The range of controllers I
suggested goes from less than 16 pins to over 256 pins.

Nothing wrong with those you suggested. But 8051, PIC and AVR are
still in many microcontroller designs, which you are telling people to
ignore.
 
T

Tim Auton

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nico Coesel said:
Nico Coesel wrote: [...]
Whatever you buy, make sure the microcontroller has one addressing
space (no 8051, no AVR, no PIC) if you want to keep your code
portable. You wouldn't be the first developer who has found the
platform that looked so promising in the past turns out to be a
deadlock.
[...]
A choice for a CPU should be driven by the question: "What if I want
to move to a different platform".

Yeah; cost, availability, capability, power consumption, quality and
availability of tools, vendor support and all the other considerations
aren't even worth thinking about.
With some platforms the answer to
this question is: "throw away everything you wrote and start over".

Other than strings and lookup tables stored in program space, virtually
all my non-hardware-related AVR code is portable. It's just C. Changing
those parts isn't hard and, importantly, doesn't significantly alter the
logic. I can't see myself needing to throw much away if I change
platforms.


Tim
 
Tim said:
Nico Coesel said:
Nico Coesel wrote: [...]
Whatever you buy, make sure the microcontroller has one addressing
space (no 8051, no AVR, no PIC) if you want to keep your code
portable. You wouldn't be the first developer who has found the
platform that looked so promising in the past turns out to be a
deadlock.
[...]
A choice for a CPU should be driven by the question: "What if I want
to move to a different platform".

Yeah; cost, availability, capability, power consumption, quality and
availability of tools, vendor support and all the other considerations
aren't even worth thinking about.
With some platforms the answer to
this question is: "throw away everything you wrote and start over".

Other than strings and lookup tables stored in program space, virtually
all my non-hardware-related AVR code is portable. It's just C. Changing
those parts isn't hard and, importantly, doesn't significantly alter the
logic. I can't see myself needing to throw much away if I change
platforms.


Tim


Questions for ya (from a newbie):

Is the C compiler for the PICs free?

What about for Atmel's chips?

Michael
 
T

Tim Auton

Jan 1, 1970
0
Questions for ya (from a newbie):

Is the C compiler for the PICs free?

There's a limited version of the PICC compiler available for free. It
only supports some PICs and it's limited to 2K of program memory, which
isn't a lot. There may be other options I don't know about.

http://www.htsoft.com/products/PICClite.php
What about for Atmel's chips?

You can use gcc, which is free and available for just about any
platform. It has no artificial restrictions. gcc and a bunch of other
tools are all packaged together for Windows and released as "WinAVR".
Atmel also supply a AVRStudio - an IDE, assembler and simulator for
Windows, for free. AVRStudio works with WinAVR, so you can use it for C
as well as assembler.

http://atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=2725
http://winavr.sourceforge.net/


Tim
 
J

Joel Kolstad

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm in a similar boat as the OP. I've found, though, that there seem
to be a LOT of books on PIC development, and not all that many on the
AVR. (Even my local Borders Bookstore had no fewer than 4 books on PIC
projects, PIC robotics, etc.)

Hmm... maybe PICs are a good place to start so that one can be pleasantly
surprised when they find something better like an AVR? :)
 
Joel said:
Hmm... maybe PICs are a good place to start so that one can be pleasantly
surprised when they find something better like an AVR? :)


That brings me to a question I've always meant to ask, but always
forgot to ask.

Can anyone recommend any good books for a beginner to learn Atmel's
chips? (big cheesy grin)

Also... is AVR the current state of the art? What about all those
ATxxxxxxx chips... are they obsolete, or just different...?

Thanks!

Michael
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tim said:
Nico Coesel said:
Nico Coesel wrote: [...]
Whatever you buy, make sure the microcontroller has one addressing
space (no 8051, no AVR, no PIC) if you want to keep your code
portable. You wouldn't be the first developer who has found the
platform that looked so promising in the past turns out to be a
deadlock. [...]
A choice for a CPU should be driven by the question: "What if I want
to move to a different platform".

Yeah; cost, availability, capability, power consumption, quality and
availability of tools, vendor support and all the other considerations
aren't even worth thinking about.
With some platforms the answer to
this question is: "throw away everything you wrote and start over".

Other than strings and lookup tables stored in program space, virtually
all my non-hardware-related AVR code is portable. It's just C. Changing
those parts isn't hard and, importantly, doesn't significantly alter the
logic. I can't see myself needing to throw much away if I change
platforms.


Tim


Questions for ya (from a newbie):

Is the C compiler for the PICs free?

The 18series C compiler from Microchip is essentially free now. It only
has some minor limitations about code optimisation which you won't have
to worry about.

The HI-TECH PIC-Clite compiler is free but only supports a limited
number of PICs
What about for Atmel's chips?

There is the GCC compiler, but really I would suggest a beginner stay
away from it, you'll spend most of your time fighting the tool. No
doubt many users will jump out in support of it though, but seriously
it's not integrated and user friendly enough for a beginner.

Beginners need something that works out of the box. There is nothing
worse than writing your LED flasher code and nothing happens, and then
you don't know if it's your code, a chip specific register you haven't
enabled, oscillator options you got wrong, your programming tool chain,
a fault in the download cable or wiring etc etc

You could do a lot worse than starting with something like the PICAXE
and work up from there.

Dave :)
 
Y

Yuriy K.

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am new to this and i hope to purchase a development kit for dev.
microcontrollers. Due to the numerous varieties available in the
market, i am lost as where i should start and what stuffs to look out
for when purchasing these kits.

STK500 is a good starting point. AVR has a simple and straightforward
architecture. Easy to program both in assembler and C.
Free WinAVR GCC port. Lots of stuff @ www.avrfreaks.net.
 
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