MCU,PIC -- where to begin?

[rif]

So I've decided to jump in to yet another tangent on my hobbies. I know little, and want to start on the right foot.

Can you reccomend a starter "system" (demo, evaluation, developer board...). I don't mind spending a few $$ on this hobby, but don't want to invest time in the wrong thing.

It seems to me that the first thing I need to do is to choose between PIC, proprietary MCU's, Stamp, other? Seems like they're not interchangeable and I need to jump on faith. I used to program in C,sql,FORTRAN, C, FORTH, Basic... so it shouldn't be a problem to pick up again.

[bigparsnip]

Hi, if I were you I would try and stick with either the microchip PIC series or the Atmel ones, as both have rather impressive suppert systems in place for developers.

My own personal choice would be to go with the Atmel chips, as they have slightly beter performance and features in my oppinion. They also have a very nice starter kit, with a programmer, a couple of chips and a limited (about 2k of code) C compiler all for about $70 (if my memory serves me right).

Atmel

Atmel Starter kit

Microchip

[mcs]

I would choose the 8051 series. There are a lot of devices to choose from, and they are all software compatible. So if you write code for an Atmel chip, it will also work on Philips chips (or Siemens, or Winbond, or TI, or Intel, or Cygnal etc).

The chips are very cheap, and they are available with many features. There is also a free C compiler available (SDCC), but I don't know how well it works - I use Keil C which is not cheap at all...

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen

[jaycee]

Atmel AVR has the advantage that gcc, a free open source C compiler is available for it. http://www.avrfreaks.com/AVRGCC/. Also Atmel give away AVR Studio, which is a mini Visual Studio clone for developing on the AVR which is VERY nice. It can even work with a very simple programmer that you can make yourself easily enough.

Also gcc supports the Motorola 68HC11 family microcontrollers, but these seem to be quite a bit more expensive than the AVR. My personal favorite is the AVR, even though only Atmel make them.

I wouldn't bother with the Microchip PIC unless you want really, really cheap parts. The performance is abysmal, there's no free C compilers (that I know of), and the instruction set is a real pain in the rear to learn.

[till]

I´m happy with those PICs, can´t see much advantage in high level languages and so i use assembler. There are very small PIC and really fast PICs with loads of special function on chip, they are really cheap , a lot of code examples and projects to learn from in the net, and also the really big ones are avaiable in DIP package. I case i want serios power i wouldn´t use an Atmel but go to MS430 or DSPs what are given away as free sample from TI. For the MSP430 there is also a free C compiler, and for programming you need a Jtag adapter for 20$ or so. For the PICs you can build a programmer for about 5$ for parts.

[rif]

Yikes! There's a ton of info out there on all of them. Seems like everyone is a diehard supporter of their choice (like Mac vs. windows vs. unix

Right now I'm leaning toward the AVR -- seems to be a much newer design and threre's a ton of support! I even found this link
http://www.avrbeginners.net/ -- can't ask for more than that!

But still, please keep commenting. I'm in no rush, if you discount the normal kid in a candy store feelings.

Any comments on Motorola? They sell a kit for $50.

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by rif

Any comments on Motorola? They sell a kit for $50.

The 68000 is a well known and spread IC, with tons of documentation about it.
But I don't know about the performance for digital audio (if you want them for that). They are used in the good TI graphic calcs, so they are certainly still good