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Hardware Technology

Companies Selling Microcontroller Kits? 56

Posted by Cliff from the for-building-your-own-digital-projects dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I'm in college working on an electrical engineering degree, and I've had a few labs so far involving microcontroller setups. I'd now like to start doing some microcontroller projects of my own devising, so I'll need a programmer, the development software, and the MCUs themselves. The problem is that I don't have a wide experience with the different companies selling this sort of equipment. I know about the BASIC Stamps and the PIC offerings, but what other architectures are there? Both of the MCUs I've named have development tools, but they're for Windows. Are there any companies out there that supply their tools for BSD/Linux? What open source projects are there working on this (I've found gputiles). As always, free (as in beer) is good for us college students. :-)"
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Companies Selling Microcontroller Kits? More

Companies Selling Microcontroller Kits?

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  • Linux friendly microcontrollers (Score:4, Informative)

    by ActiveSX ( 301342 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @12:32AM (#9211853) Homepage
    I've been using the BASIC Stamp Tools for Linux [sourceforge.net] for a while now. It uses the (unfortunately) beerfree parallax pbasic tokenizer so [parallax.com]. If you don't want to use the BS, the Atmel [atmel.com] AVR [atmel.com] series is well supported [nongnu.org] by open source software, and really fast as well (native code vs. interpreted).
    • I too would recommend the AVR series from Atmel. Their development boards (STK500 et. al.) are fairly inexpensive, and work with a variety of chips, including the cheap and versatile "2313" chip, my personal favorite.

      If you're famaliar with C programming, then the AVRs are excellent, as gcc will cross-compile for these chips, and give excellent performance for the dollar, as most of the chips operate at 1 instruction per clock, speeds between 4 Mhz and 10Mhz. Getting a single-chip, 10 MIPS solution for $
    • One of the best places for information on AVR software modules, OS's, emulators, compilers, assemblers, application notes, prototype boards, etc. is avrfreaks.net [avrfreaks.net]

      Many of the software offerings are free (especially those from Amtel and the Open Source world) and most of the prototype boards are very reasonably priced. One of the more sophisticated boards is available for under $200.

      Regards,
      Ross
    • Basic stamps are basically toys. They are waaaay overpriced and programming in basic is pretty much like programming in assembly with less-scary names for instructions. Not to mention you can't use any of the advanced features like interrupts, timers, and so on.

      I suggest you start with a PIC, MPLAB (yeah, yeah, it's for windows -- so what?), and a JDM programmer with ICProg. It's a nice, easy-to-use solution. [homepage.dk]

      The 8051 platform is also very nice, since it is very commonly encountered. For instance, the

  • Well, since you are looking for... (Score:3, Informative)

    by rusty0101 ( 565565 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @12:36AM (#9211870) Homepage Journal
    ...free as in beer, might I suggest starting by looking at freshmeat.com, and typing 'pic' in the litle search field. When I did it came back with this url [freshmeat.net] which lists several pic programers. The first three specificly indicate they are for Linux. Several of the others indicate that Linux support is included. And so on.

    I think you would probably find something similar for Basic Stamp, but I think that I have provided enough suggestions that you might be able to figure out how to look for that as well...

    Then again, I could be wrong. Things like that are known to happen.

    -Rusty

  • How about an 80186 board (Score:3, Informative)

    by baywulf ( 214371 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @12:39AM (#9211886)
    JK Microsystems has a 80186 board for only $69. It has 1 MB of memory and a DOS like shell. They even give you a full Borland C compiler. Pretty good deal.

    http://www.jkmicro.com/products/flashlite186.htm l

  • good book for pics (Score:4, Interesting)

    by brandond1976 ( 638849 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @12:46AM (#9211916) Homepage

    Programming and Customizing PICmicro Microcontrollers by Myke Predko

    Available on Amazon [amazon.com]. The book icludes a PCB and parts list for building a PIC programmer. It includes a dos program (runs fine in wine) for transfering your programs to your pics.

    This book is a lot of fun if your into this type of thing. I highly recommend it.

    • Actually I hate this book. Most of it is a copy of the PIC Datasheet, and the programs are all assembly. This book might be a good, scratch the surface, type, but don't get this book thinking you're going to walk away knowing how to program PICs on your own.

    • I second that, Predko's book is great for getting into PIC development starting from scratch. His website [myke.com] has some good info about the book, including a great chapter available for free on microprocessor/hardware interfacing (applies to a broader audience than just PICMicro developers). He even covers a few Linux development tools in the book.

      Since it's mostly on-topic here, I'll use this chance to mention that I've got a listing of manufacturers who will provide you with free samples. Microchip will happi

    • This book is getting very dated and the included programmer is known to have been a "problem child" for many people, as it's not a very robust design.

      Save yourself the headache and buy something else.

  • Consider the AVR (Score:2, Informative)

    by maetenloch ( 181291 )
    If you're doing simple one-off projects, the BasicStamp is all you need. If you think you'll be doing more projects, it's probably worth investing the time to learn a more complete architecture like the AVR from Atmel.

    For $135 you can get a complete development kit for the AVR complete with programmer, leds, and push buttons that will work with almost any chip in the AVR family. You can get a complete GCC toolchain for the AVR free here [avrfreaks.com] and lots of support at AvrFreaks.com [avrfreaks.com]. That's pretty much all you need

    • Re:Consider the AVR (Score:4, Informative)

      by mlyle ( 148697 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @12:55AM (#9211962)
      The AVR is wonderful. Note you can get a complete development platform, the AVR Butterfly, for $20 and the price of soldering down a 3 pin serial header. Digikey [digikey.com] has a bunch in stock.

      The AVR is a really powerful architecture, and the GCC toolchain works pretty nicely, though there are some idiosyncracies (the main being that register naming is not consistent between all the parts, and occasionally flags are wrong.
      • As it happens, I'm just getting started with AVRs myself (the ATmega8535), and am in the process of purchasing equipment. What is the inexpensive, parallel-port-based programmer of choice for users here? Someone recommended to buy one off Ebay instead of building your own, but the only ones there are from Bulgaria, and heaven knows if the company is reputable.
        • Building your own is really not that bad. You can hook the parallel lines directly up to the AVR's JTAG pins.

          But the route I went was to get the Atmel serial programmer. It's only $29, and works with the Atmel software. Search for "ATAVRISP" at digikey.

          The AVR butterfly emulates the AVRISP through its bootloader, and has RS-232 level conversion-- so there's even less to fiddle with (though you do need to terminate the two serial signals and the ground in a DB9.)
        • The STK-500 from DigiKey is a good way to go.
    • I third the AVR suggestion. There's a decent HOWTO on getting an AVR toolchain going in linux here [slacy.com].

    • Re:Consider the AVR (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cnvogel ( 3905 )
      If you consider doing more complex stuff with AVR microcontrollers, the "Ethernut 2" functions as a very interesting development environment (or even as a complete building block for products/projects). For about EUR 150 you get:

      ATMega128 Microcontroller + 512 kByte RAM
      Serial ports: RS232 + RS485
      100 MBit Ethernet
      most digital I/O and analog inputs of the Mega128 accessible on a row of jumpers.

      The complete operating system (providing TCP/IP networking for example) that's running on that board is availably a

  • PIC's (Score:3, Informative)

    by Artega VH ( 739847 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @12:56AM (#9211976) Journal
    You've already found gputils its a great place to start...

    For the pic16f and 18f series also check out the small device c compiler [sourceforge.net] (works with other MCU's too).

    There is a related GNU pic site at www.gnupic.org [gnupic.org] it lists pretty much everything you might need.

    You asked about development tools for platforms other than windows - but in true /. style i'm going to ignore that: :p

    winpicprog [winpicprog.co.uk] - i've found is quite good, i've yet to find anything in linux or bsd quite as complete...
    -----------
    As far as programming resources go since I'm actualy focusing on compiling c code for the pic using sdcc i've found that:
    Nathan Hursts page on sdcc and the pic14 port (for pic 16 series) [monash.edu.au]
    and
    Martin Dubuc's pic16 port [freeshell.org]
    have been invaluable resources.

  • PIC's rule! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pedro ( 1613 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @01:11AM (#9212069)
    While I am sure that there are probably better examples of deadly serious microcontrollers out there, I have to say that Microchip's products really satisfy the hacker impulse in me.
    I cut my teeth on 8080's (conditional calls and returns? WOOHOO!) and 6502's (gotta love those flag behaviours) and the PIC families rock if you're into major algorithmic gymnastics.
    Everything you could possibly want in a uP is there, and executed beautifully if you're a cycle counting maniac like I am.
    Microchip's tools are basic, yes, but they *are* free, mostly, and perform as advertised.
    Braving the win environment is just something you'll have to put up with if you want to stay on the bleeding edge of what they offer.
    As other posters have mentioned, however, there exist GNU style tools that I suspect might fulfill your needs.
    I must mention, however, that the real power of the PIC products can only be accessed fully by coding to the metal directly.
    Know the chip that you're using intimately.
    A logic analyzer might help also, since you're going to be twiddling ports in a rather brazen fashion.

    • Re:PIC's rule! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )
      "Everything you could possibly want in a uP is there"

      Almost - the only PIC with USB has a UV erasable ROM, not the easiest thing for doing development with.

  • MSP430 (Score:4, Informative)

    by Jim Morash ( 20750 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @01:19AM (#9212143)
    Check out the msp430 series from TI - fun to program, featureful, low power, and fully supported by free software in the form of 'MSPGCC'. Good stuff

    • Re:MSP430 (Score:2, Informative)

      by nmnilsson ( 549442 )
      I'll second that! The MSP430 is a really fun MCU and easy(fast) to get started with.
      You'll get a devkit (with JTAG programmer) from Olimex [olimex.com] for cheap (~20$).
      And it works fine with MSPGCC [sourceforge.net].
      This page [mikrocontroller.net] holds your hand during your first gdb session.

      I've used this setup in several projects with no real problems.
    • I just ported my own OS kernel (davros) to the MSP430. Mostly quick & easy - a couple of quirks in the I/O area, but that's normal on nearly all microcontrollers.

      I expect to upload the source to my homepage in the next few days:
      home.graffiti.net/pogue/downloads/davros/
      (but don't bother looking just yet, unless you want x86 and/or tricore)

    • As an embedded developer and consequently involuntary tester of MSPGCC, ImageCraft MSP430 Compiler and IAR Embedded Workbench, I suggest IAR for anyone willing to get into the industry. THe optimizations and functionality, as well as the quality of code generated is far better.

  • 8052 (Score:3, Informative)

    by pauldy ( 100083 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @01:53AM (#9212334) Homepage
    It would have been better had you been more specific on your intent. The microcontroler market is vast and to accuratly answer such a broad question is not easy in a forum like this. First figure out what language you want to program in.

    If you are worried about programmers for linux look for microcontrolers that support in circuit programming (ICP) via serial bootloaders. The one that jumps to mind is dallas/maxim's 89c4xx series. Building a programmer for this device requires very little and works nice with minicom.

    For more high end you can look at network based microcontrolers. Many of these have small RTOSs that allow remote programming and programs execution.
  • I have been looking at the different controllers from Zilog [zilog.com] and Rabbit Semiconductor [rabbitsemiconductor.com].

    Rabbit is a spinoff from Zilog, I believe. If you take a look at the sites, they each have some interesting Microcontroller solutions.
  • There are tons of 8051-family boards out there, some quite cheap. You can use SDCC (sdcc.sourceforge.net) to develop your code in C and 8051 assembly. It works pretty well.
  • I recently finished working on a small project involving Microcontroller and Transceiver Interfacing.
    I used the Rabbit 2000 (an older version) of the rabbit, and i found that it was easier to implement rather than the AVR.
    All I did was make a simple interface PCB between the uC and the Transceiver, which worked out great.

  • handyboard (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blackcoot ( 124938 ) on Friday May 21, 2004 @03:36AM (#9212807)
    it may be overkill for you, but i've used the handyboard (www.handyboard.com) for robotics stuff. it uses a c-esque language called interactive c, which is available gratis for linux, windows, and os x. it's a pretty decent (not great) environment. and if that fails, you can just program it in assembly (motorolla).
  • USB here:
    http://www.mpeltd.demon.co.uk/usbstamp.htm [demon.co.uk]


    Very tiny here:
    http://www.mpeltd.demon.co.uk/tiniarm.htm [demon.co.uk]


    You can program em both in FORTH if you want to (see forth [comp.lang.forth]) - forth is like a macro-macro-assembler where you derive your own language in it, one which is ideally suited to your problem.

    Sam
  • Its not that difficult to build your own solution, i have found out that many of the boards are quite pricey. As an student myself i really dont want to buy premade solutions, becouse it detracts a bit from the learning experience and its much cheaper to build your own.

    Many micro's can be had as samples from a lot of vendors, like microchip, maxim-ic, atmel, Texas instruments (the only ones i have dealt with).
    The 8051 solution of maxim is quite good for digital experiments (lots of I/O's and very fast).
    The

  • Maxim-IC TINI board (Score:3, Informative)

    by Miguel de Icaza ( 660439 ) <`trowel' `at' `gmail.com'> on Friday May 21, 2004 @06:12AM (#9213280) Homepage Journal
    These things are fairly robust for only having 20Mhz to work with allowing telnet access, FTP access, and even http access straight out of the box. This is one of the easiest microcontrollers I've seen to program do to the fact that you simply write Java code in your regular IDE (IDEA!!), rename the compiled .class file to a .tini file and FTP it over to the board. To start your program, you simply type 'java Test.tini &' and it loads into the background. These boards even have garbage collection (which makes things easier for you, but can slow things down). We were able to get the simple LED flashing demo up and running in about 10 minutes. I consider this a pretty big accomplishment since we have yet to get a serious demo running on the C-based microcontrollers from Atmel which continue to tell us we can't flash them due to some lock bits somewhere on the development kit. While some people have mentioned that the TINI board isn't really Java, I have to argue that the fact that I can write my code using my Java IDE and upload it nearly unchanged makes a pretty strong statement that this board is indeed running Java. At $100 for full Ethernet connectivity and a 20Mhz processor, I think it's a pretty good deal especially if you're a Java programmer looking to get into embedded systems. Now I just have to figure out how we tie it to our RF transmission system!

  • what I use (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fliptout ( 9217 )
    I do some consulting using the Microchip Pics (pic16f870 mostly for the moment). In school we used the motorola 68hc12.

    Since you are an EE student, you might look into checking out a development board from your department. That should give you something to play with for free.

    Failing that, I'd recomment getting a breadboard, a few sample Pics (free samples, w00t) or whatever microcontroller you want, instead of a development board. Depending on what kind of controller, you may need an external oscilator

  • piclist (Score:2, Informative)

    by mmynsted ( 552933 )
    Be sure to check out piclist at http://www.piclist.com

    This is a really nice resouce for microcontrollers. (Folks ask questions about electronics, non-pic controllers, etc.) Great place to start your search.

    -MM
  • Programming microcontrollers is infinitely easier than it was, say, 20 years ago, but it's still extremely non-trivial.

    Particularly for small projects, where R&D costs are much higher than parts costs, I'd recommend picking the controller and support tools that are best, and then running whatever platform is needed to support these.

    As to controllers to use: the Atmel AVR family is very fast and clean, with low power consumption. For connection with the outside world, the EZ80 Acclaim series has a bui

  • The student's way: (from one to another)
    1. Use the free tools on freshmeat.org
    2. Build your own pic programmer board (search google) instead of buying one.

    Most kits cost well over a students hobby budget, but if you are hardcore into PIC programming, use Windows with Microchip's ICD2 (in-circuit debugger) and MPLAB IDE.

    -n
  • http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist/index.htm

    Even if you're not going to go with PICs, there is still a lot of info and help available there. Even though it's called the PICList, it's divided up into several different categories including PIC, AVR, and Electrical Engineering.

    Personally I don't like PICs, I use the Atmel *51 series normally. Specifically the AT89C2051. These are small, cheap, and have a lot of support. SDCC supports them very well, any any old Programmer you get on E-Bay supports
  • I'm so glad the question was asked, and that so many people answered. I've been thinking about playing with microcontrollers again but didn't want to stoop so low as to have to use Windoze as the developmemt environment.

    I've got a friend who has an idea for a little gadget and was thinking about helping with the construction. He's less interested in learning uC magic than just getting the thing working so I bought an Xport 2.0 card which turns a regular Nintendo GameBoy into a little robotics development
  • You can get MSP430 starter boards *very* cheap (~$20) from www.sparkfun.com. Then you can go to mspgcc.sf.net and build a GCC cross compiler, which is mildly painful, but not too bad. I was able to get the whole thing going and flash a program that blinks an LED onto the uC with about an hour of work.

    Join their mailing list if you have trouble, it's quite active. There's also a very active Yahoo! group (ick) called MSP430.
  • The Zilog Z8 [zilog.com] is a very nice, very easy to learn microcontroller. It's very low cost, and easy to integrate into useful products.

    The development kit, which includes everything you need, can be had for under $40US [digikey.com]. Sweet.

  • One really cheap option is to subscribe to a few of the Engineering rags (or read someone else's copy), and sign-up for their Design Contests.

    For example, Circuit Cellar ( http://www.circuitcellar.com/ ) is an excellent magazine for anyone wanting to do small projects with microprocessors; every issue has one or two complete project write-ups. It's worth every penny of it's subscription fee.

    They also have two or three sponsored Design Contests a year. You submit an application when they announce the
  • Back in the bad 'ol days the only thing a hobbyist could easily get ahold of was a PIC or a motorola. But motorolas were expensive, require more support parts, and not as easily obtained. Plus PIC had a nifty flash chip that didn't require a UV eraser. Lastly, they were available cheaply via digikey, and the assembler and full IDE were free. Parallax had a lot to do with their success in the hobbyist market with the basic stamp and then moving you to a PIC if you needed more power.

    Fast forward to toda
  • I think anyone who is anyone who knows anything about 16bit MCUs knows about the Motorola [motorola.com] HC12 [motorola.com] family and it's 8bit predecessor the HC11 [motorola.com]. The HC11/HC12 is well supported by GCC, binutils and friends [carrez.free.fr] (also check out http://www.gnu.org/software/m68hc11/ [gnu.org]) which is also nicely packaged [debian.org] under Debian/GNU unstable and testing.

    HC12/HCS12 devices are extremely easy to debug and develop software for. There is a fantastic Java-based simulator here [www.almy.us]. If you don't have dev tools that natively understand Motorola's BDM
  • The GNUPic project supports PIC on Linux.
  • I just got a Zilog eZ80 development kit for $99 from DigiKey [digikey.com]

    I have to report that the IDE is Windows based, not Linux like the poster asked, but I still reckon the kit is well worth the price.

    Hardware is a 50MHz eZ80 processor, which can switch between old-skool Z80 (16 bit addressing) or new-skool ADL (24 bit addressing). 1MB Flash, 1MB RAM. Ethernet port, yay!. Various serial ports. A few buttons for inputs. 5x7 LEDs for outputs. Expansion bus connectors.

    Software IDE is Windows based as I alre

  • Man am I ever pissed for missing this article on Friday, since this is my field!

    I'm always on the search for embedded development tools for Linux. Although once in a while I have to deal with a windows based tool (which I run under win4lin [netraverse.com]), most of the time I am happily coding, compiling/linking and debugging under Linux.

    I actually cut my teeth in embedded programming with the Intel 8048/8052 (yes the original 12 clocks per instruction). Those were the days - little or no embedded peripherals (the 80

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