neophyte looking for suggestions (mcu to target, dev boards)...

helps

you into

Since the OP said "no background in electronics", I would suggest adding a = couple of books from Don Lancaster: TTL Cookbook (still the best written = introduction to hardware logic, IMHO), and CMOS Cookbook, which will give = the lay of the land with respect to the idiosyncracies of CMOS devices.

Atmel's AVR

and PIC

I would second the recommendation for the AVR family, in particular. The = MSP430 is really nice, but the AVR has it beat, in terms of accessiblity = to both an inexpensive development environment, and peer support =

--
Bill
Posted with XanaNews Version 1.15.2.7

Some of the Cygnal 8051 stuff is pretty state-of-the-art. Compare the C8051F124 to the ATmega128- about 3x the speed, double the RAM (8K) and 12bit ADC & DAC vs. 10 bit ADC and no DAC. And they're supposed to have a 100MIPS part RSN. But rather $$$.

OTOH, the older ATmega128 process allows 5V supply while the MSP430 and the above Cygnal chip have to work on ~3.6V or lower. That could complicate some things when it comes time to drive power MOSFETs etc.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

ain't bad

about

Sorry, my post wasn't intended to contradict your recommendation, but to = supplement it. Lancaster did a great job in his books of presenting not = only basic, but advanced concepts for design techniques.

Of course, for the basics:

1. You can never have too much ground
2. Decoupling caps are much cheaper than finding the source of the problem = from their absence
3. Read device datasheets and app notes *carefully*
4. Specific to item 3: Note that large caps on the output of regulators = are a *bad* *thing* -- also that output caps on regulators must always be = smaller than input caps.
5. Designers screw up on the simple things: a) to little iron in a = transformer, b) too little copper between power supply and load, c) too = little distributed capacitance on the board.
6. Designers tend to overdesign things on the digital side of the circuit, = failing to note that in the presence of noisy power (see 5, above), the = system is less "digital" than they expect.

--
Bill
Posted with XanaNews Version 1.15.2.7

Lee go with some modern architecture that is easy to deal with as well :-) AVR if you want something small, ARM if you fancy something more beefy

simtec.co.uk do a 99ukp ATX motherboard for ARM7 with serial,ethernet an VGA that boots Linux as well :-) I'd go for that if I was in your shoes.

now you could go with the Target188 board that Michael Barr talks about in his excellent book 'Programming embedded systems in C/C++' but that is an ugly 80186 :-(, not ideal if you're interested in moder architectures.

good luck and if you find something cheap tell us about it NN

Cygnal, hmmm, sounds impressive. Does it have 32 GP registers, a RISC architecture, and execute single-cycle instructions though? I would suspect not, if it is still an 8051 architecture.

Regards, Clark

P.S. I saw you in alt.english.usage. Good to see another embedded person who cares about their vocabulary..... ;-)

Saying 80186 *and* ugly is redundant .

--
Bill
Posted with XanaNews Version 1.15.2.7

I make a couple of boards that may interest you. See:

Both my MAVRIC and M128B boards are based around the Atmel ATmega128 (AVR). Depending on how much you want to do yourself, I sell a bare PCB, a kit, or the boards fully assembled and tested.

The ATmega128 has lots of great features. In addition to those, my boards support 128K of external RAM, dual level shifted RS232 UARTs, 32K serial I2C eeprom, battery backed serial I2C real time clock using a Dallas DS1307, in-system programming header, and JTAG header. Check the web site for more details, or e-mail me with any questions you might have.

Cheers,

-Brian

--
Brian Dean, bsd@bdmicro.com
BDMICRO - Maker of the MAVRIC ATmega128 Dev Board
http://www.bdmicro.com/

No/not really/yes.

(2 pg. overview) JTAG debugging. $28 US one-off.

Nothing wrong with those other chips suggested either, of course.

A lot of the most attractive high-end chips are only available in relatively fine pitch SMT packages, as well as 3V-ish which might put some off. PICs, the 18F series, are also a possibility but the architecture will warp the beginner's mind and many of the supposed

10MIPS ones will only really run at 6.25MIPS (errata).

It's almost as unforgiving an environment as comp.lang.c. ;-)

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

No problem. I don't have any of his books, but I should get them. I remember his articles waay back on the Television Typewriter and his foray into PostScript.

=

remember

Yes, you should.

I noticed a LONG time ago. The EEs who really did have their stuff together tended to have Lancaster's books on their shelves, or at least had read them at one time or another.

Besides, they're almost as much fun to read as Harry Potter. :-)

I'm sure the Lancaster books are a faster route than the one I was on. I decided I needed to get to know hardware better, so I dragged out some old Physics books on electricity and magnetism. This led me to drag out my old Calculus book. Mind you, it's probably a good thing to re-learn all this but not quickest route to understanding hardware!

old

old

but

Years ago, I gave the TTL Cookbook to my boss, a guy whose only knowledge = of logic was with relays. He not only read it in a weekend, but understood = it well enough to find a couple of minor errors.

--
Bill
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Hi All, I am in a smilar condition as Lee. I also am interested in learning embedded systems programming. I have started with assembly programming for Motorola 6011 and 6012. I would like your opinion on, how good is it to start with this processor to learn? Does it represent state of the art technology? Are there any requirements for this knowledge? The book that I am using by Dr. Jonathan Valvano is pretty good. Your suggestions and advice is most welcome. Thank you, Regards, Abhi

IMHO the mega128 is a nice chip, but one has to be careful. The list of features and the datasheet can be quite overwhelming for a beginner. On the other side it might not be a good idea to spend much money on something smaller just to get bored after some weeks.

@Lee: If you can ignore all the fancy stuff until you get the basics working, you should be fine with the mega128 ;-)

And check

for general introduction to AVR.

Jan-Hinnerk