Thanks for all of the responses. I was not sure that the message posted so I think I posted another. I apologize about the lack of information....
First off, I am currently prototyping using a Z8 Encore! Development Kit from when I was is school. I am also using their C compiler. I think that I am still a novice at programming. I would like to use other micro controllers perhaps an MSP430 or something from Atmel for some of the other devices. I know that each micro has their own procedures on how to set things up. But once the basic initialization for each micro has been done along with a couple of interrupts for stuff, the main body of code should function seamlessly.
The devices I was thinking about making would do specific task exclusively. One device would do just digital inputs while another one did just digital outputs. Another one would handle communications to a PC. One would display stuff onto an LCD screen, etc. Multi-master is a definite with this.
Address Space: It does look like I can change address space in the compiler.
I was thinking about doing something like this: #define Data1 (*(unsigned char volatile far*)0x006)
But the memory map that I have started is getting rather large and that is way too much typing for me. So I wanted to define the address spaces in one lump sum.
My reasoning behind trying to use address space is so that if I am having an issue down the road, I can look at the data quicker. My experiences with different types of micro controllers and compilers is limited, but I can get the data from ram and stream it somewhere if I can't view it any other way. And lastly I wanted to line up the data with a communication protocol.
Communication Protocols I think my terminology is off. Or perchance I need clarification. I was under the assumption that the physical layer is stuff like RS232, RS485, USB, Ethernet, etc. I have written some programs that used some of these mediums to talk to electronic devices. But before I could do that, I needed to know how to assemble the data so the electronics would recognize it. I would assume that this agreed upon arbitration is a communication protocol. I am familiar with ModBus. And I heard about CANbus and ProfiBus but never used them. I will look into CANBus. I just wanted to know if any more existed. I tried asking my friend Google, but he wasn't much help. Knowing my luck, I didn't type in the question correctly. With my project though, I would like the flexibility of within a box and between boxes tens or hundreds of meters apart with reasonable data rates. But since I am still in development, I have all the time in world to learn new protocols. If anybody knows more, feel free to let them fly!!!
I2C or UART? I believe aiming for the moon. If one misses, then they will be farther than where they started. Having said that, I would like everything to as fast as possible, as much as possible, and as many times as my devilish mind can conjure. As stated earlier, I2C seemed to have its limitations, but I am hoping to get personal opinions and knowledge over the subject. And I was not disappointed!!
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