anybody mess with microcontrollers?
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I'm trying to get back to the simplicity of asm on my c64. And microcontrollers seem pretty powerful now adays. Anybody else already have this hobby? Seems like there are a LOT of options. ATMega168, Propeller, and apparently a ton of others. I'm gonna dive in with that AVR Butterfly thingy (based on ATMega168 or whatever). There's also that Arduino thing and such. If anybody has already taken the plunge, hearing which direction you went and what you're doin' with it would be most helpful :) Thanks, ...Steve
Steve Hazel wrote:
I'm trying to get back to the simplicity of asm on my c64.
I loved my old C64 (first computer was a VIC-20) and the 6502 asm. The PLA (IIRC was the name of the inteface chip) was easy to work with for interfacing with the external world. Used it several times for triggering a cash drawer not to mention other fun play (blow a few of the chips though in my play time ;) ).
Rocky <>< Recent Blog Post: Keep on your toes – Process Monitor V2.02 Thinking about Silverlight? www.SilverlightCity.com
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Hmm, your 2 links point to the same place. Isn't Atmel just the company that makes the ATMega series of chips? I'm pretty sure the AVR boards have Atmel processors on em...? The AVR butterfly is an (oops not a 168) ATMega169 chip with an lcd and a buncha other stuff already glued together (soldered, whatever). Here's some specs for it... http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc4271.pdf[^] This is the kit I'm gettin'... http://www.smileymicros.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=11[^] Man. That "thing" you linked to has a TON of stuff on it. It's a full scale linux os, eh? With a ton of i/o. There's also that Arduino board... http://www.arduino.cc/[^] And the Propeller chip looks cool too... http://www.parallax.com/tabid/407/Default.aspx[^] As I say, how does ANYbody make heads or tails outa this stuff...?? And good lord. I am SO done googlin'... I'll see what this avr butterfly thing gets me and read up on "the best chip ever" later... Kinda like I bought that TimexSinclair ZX81 and THEN found my beloved c64 :) ...Steve http://shazware.com[^]
Steve Hazel wrote:
Hmm, your 2 links point to the same place.
Silly copy & paste. Sorry about that.
Steve Hazel wrote:
As I say, how does ANYbody make heads or tails outa this stuff...??
Well that's where Renesas (used to be Mitsubishi Electronics & some other big company where they decided to create an off-shoot company called Renesas to deal with chips) comes into it's down. They've got a simple program which you download (no installation required from what I remember) and you simply pick the specs you want and it selects the chips which are best for you. Even has links to download all the relevant datasheets without having to find them. Now if only there was one for every micro...
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Careful there, Henry. Unless we were still in diapers when writing Z80 Forth, we're going to start showing our age here ...
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
Walt Fair, Jr. wrote:
Unless we were still in diapers
Of course I was?:-D
Henry Minute If you open a can of worms, any valid solution *MUST* involve a larger can!
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Walt Fair, Jr. wrote:
Unless we were still in diapers
Of course I was?:-D
Henry Minute If you open a can of worms, any valid solution *MUST* involve a larger can!