[ale] OT - Hobby - Breadboard Kits (whats your favourite MCU?)

[Mike Panetta]

So you have not seen the way of the AVR yet ehh? ;)  What is it that keeps people
using PIC's anyway?  (Truly not a flame, just a serious questiion, as I have used both
and PIC's annoy the hell out of me now.)  I have used PIC's, AVR's (only megas so far)
68K parts, and 68HC11's/12's and my favourite so far is the AVR.  Its a draw between
the AVR and the 68332 actually...  The '332 is slow, but it has an awsome array of
perhipherals, the AVR is fast, but its kinda limited in IO....  I would love to own an
MPC555 board (thats what I got to use at my last job) but they are way to expensive.

Anyone else out there have a favourite?  Why is it your favourite?

Mike


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You're now moving into a different area, and a better one IMHO. I firmly
believe that microcontrollers are the linchpin of small electronics projects
for the forseeable future. I believe that you can learn the basics of how
they work pretty easily, then leverage the knowledge over many projects. Also
because it's programmed in addition to being wired, you have the versitility
and the flexibility to augment existing projects and try out new projects
using the same infrastructure. I'm a fan of the Microchip PIC microcontroller.
And the best part is that it won't break the bank. Individual chips of the
smallest size (8 pins) are approaching the $1 mark. And Microchip is in the
process of releasing a line of 6 pin parts that'll actually cost less than $1.
But even the most hefty of their parts is less than $10 each.

The problem is that the infrastructure is the problem. It's a problem that
I've been working on sproadically over the years. Most of my PIC development
tools and projects are posted here:

http://www.finitesite.com/d3jsys

Everything I use is Linux based and Open Source. One day I'd really like to 
spend the time necessary to clean up my hybrid compiler, bootloader, and
programming software and produce a toolset that anyone can use. But like
many things in life it'll have to wait for another time.

If you decide to go the microcontroller route, let me know. I may be able to
help a bit.

BAJ
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