Methods of Learning to Build Electronic Circuitry? 134
Peristaltic asks: "I've seen some cool articles in Instructables detailing how to create various electronic gadgets. A couple of these as well as the odd DIY kit have come to life on my kitchen table. While it's satisfying to see the things work after time spent soldering, I would love to be able to take the next step beyond the basics of component functionality, i.e. a resistor does -this-; a capacitor does -that-. Forest Mimm's books have been helpful towards this end, but it's time to move forward. Every month or so, I read here on Slashdot a plea for help getting started with, or expanding someone's knowledge of programming. OK, I'd like to make that plea for help with electronics theory & circuit building. I've found plenty of references on the web, Amazon, etc., but can someone who's already taken this trip outline what has and hasn't worked for them?"
I recall (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:I recall (Score:4, Informative)
You can download the DOS version at HotU [the-underdogs.info], which runs just fine in Bochs or DosBox.
Art of Electronics (Score:3, Interesting)
This book was based off the one-semester course P
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Even though I do *nothing* with circuitry myself anymore, I seriously want to make/fund/use the development of a good product that is "GarageBand for circuitry." Something that is somewhere between Rocky's Boots and Simulink and the other industrial fab tools. Enough to build a Furby's guts, for example.
About ten years ago, I was going to make a little app like this. Lay out the logic gates, translate that schematic into a virtual breadboard view (good enough you could build a real one next to the com
Things have changed since I tinkered long ago... (Score:3, Insightful)
The Basic Stamp kits look good. You seem to need a pretty hefty Oscilliscope nowadays also.
I would suggest taking the training for a Amature ("HAM") radio license since that involves all the basic electronics stuff, then move into more digital stuff.
TDz.
Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:2)
I wonder if anyone breadboards anything but the simplest circuits, anymore. If you want to do something really serious, involving some ICs with 100 pins or more, could you really do that on a breadboard?
I come from the days when computers ran at 5Mhz
Yeah... well... I come from the days when computers only ran at 1Mhz (Apple II and OSI) and we liked them!
Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Most things are still available in DIL packages - the Z80 CPU and its peripheral chips are *still manufactured* in that form. Static RAM and flash ROM is easy to get hold of in DIL packages. Of course, there are mountains of 74-series and 4000-series logic and other things like 555 timers made in their tens of millions.
Here is my current rat's nest: http://www.alioth.net/Projects/Z80/Z80-Project/Z8
You probably don't want to start learning and experimenting directly with 100 pin QFPs. It would be an exercise in futility.
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De-Rat (Score:2)
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(1) Do I want minimal noise and some semblance of organization? OR
(2) Do I want components whose leads haven't been cut off in very specific ways and wires that aren't quirky lengths?
After all, these things are called temporary breadboards for a reason, aren't they?
Sometimes the best option is to figure out what parts of the circuit are going to stay on the breadboards for a long time, or what components can just be thrown out and inexpensively replaced if the leads end up
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There were no IC's in my electronics kit, but there was enough to build a "transistor radio", I turned into a teenager and didn't bother with electronics until my mid-twenties. I got hold of a second hand Apple 11, attached an audio cassett player, my monitor was "the" TV plugged in via the RF converter in "the" video recorder (luckily the wife liked reading and the kids were young
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Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:5, Insightful)
74 series and 4000 series logic, 555 timers and the like are STILL as much fun to play with as they were 20 years ago. The existence of 3.6 GHz Xeon processors does not reduce the amount of learning or fun you can have from these parts, nor does it make simple parts any less useful than they ever were. You can still make useful gadgets with simple parts, and it's not hard to interface them with a modern desktop computer if need be.
Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:4, Informative)
A Z80 is not only likely to be powerful enough for your project, it's also dirt cheap (About $5 each.) A Motorola 68K will cost under $15. Of course, there are modern variations with some extra features, so price for a specific sub-breed may vary.
I'm a fan of the 8051-decended microcontrollers, since they greatly reduce the number of support components (on-chip oscillator circuits). Flash based EEPROM units go for about $7 each or less, can be clocked at anything between 0Hz - 24MHz, and come with a plethera of features depending on model: integrated A/D & D/A converters, USB host interfaces and PWM generators being popular.
You definately do not need a $300, 150-million-transistor space heater for most embedded applications.
=Smidge=
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The practical limit I tend to draw is with pin numbers- if I need 28-pins for the initial project, I get the best 28-pin device I can. It's not like you're going to production where every dollar counts, and fo
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And if you have some money to spare and some experience, you could get some sensor nodes, lik e.g. Crossbow's MicaZ series with some data acquisition boards and solder away. That gives you electronics to play with and programming fun.
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The 8051 is still around too, and is still under active development. No more eprom programmers & UV erase lamps. They have 1 clock cores now, where 20Mhz = 20 MIPS. You can program them with a parallel port dongle. Some of the advanced ones program via a bootloader ROM. The AT89C51ED2... Hold reset, tap PSEN, release reset, and talk to it via the serial port. Atmel FLIP is available for Linux. GPL SDCC for C afectionados.
The Intel MCS-52 BASIC is available from numerous sites, one of which has enh
shoot, I was killing tubes when I was 11 (Score:2)
the demise of popular electronics and the slate of similar magazines, in which you had both semi-interesting one or two element circuits to learn off of as welll as more advanced functional items is badly missed. as is heathkit. junko heathkits like the $8 learn to solder kit are selling at a 2-1/2 times premium unopened on eBay. items like the SB-2xx ham linear amps, unopened, sell well over a thous
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Both pretty good mail order places. (well, the same place basically).
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the demise of popular electronics and the slate of similar magazines, in which you had both semi-interesting one or two element circuits to learn off of as welll as more advanced functional items is badly missed.
There are still some good electronics magazines published. There's Everyday Practical Electronics [amazon.com] for instance. Steve Ciarcia's Ciruit Cellar [circuitcellar.com] , I used to love to read his "Circuit Cellar" column in the print edition of "Byte" magazine, is good though works mainly with microcontrollers. Ooh
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If you want to dig into electronics you have several directions to go-- amature robotics (feedback and control ciruits, sensors & programming), microcomputers (straight digital stuff usually), alarm systems (digital/analog hybrid), radio transmission and/or reception (mostly analog unless you dig DSP [digital signal processing]), computer interfacing through a b
Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:2)
I'm doing plenty with a 20MHz 8-bit PIC chip with "only" 8k of code space. I can and have controlled a character LCD display, read a keypad, read an encoder, operated a motor with velocity and position control, done RS-232 serial i/o for control by a PC, and some rudimentary task switching, doing floating point operations
Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:2)
Re:Things have changed since I tinkered long ago.. (Score:2)
I tinkered with electronics & "Radio-Shack" projects back in the late 1970s & early '80s and I still like to go into the local electronics stores to look around (note: NOT Radio Shack anymore).
Yeap, way back when RadShack had some good learning projects, but now they have hardly anything. At least the ones around here as I've looked for them. Heathkit [heathkit.com] had some good things too but I don't know how well they are now.
Falcon
kits (Score:3, Informative)
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37 items were removed due to patent infringement.
64 items were left off because they were dangerous to children.
13 items were removed because women couldn't pick them up.
6 items were excluded because the MPAA thought they looked like movie props.
29 items were removed because they were a threat to homeland security.
The one remaining item (a resistor incase your wondering) can be used for anything you like!
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I learned how things worked when I started taking things apart to "fix" them. (I mostly just destroyed things at first) But if you try to understand what each component is actually doing when you replace it, you learn alot. Or at least I did.
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A new player on the market, Mehano, has a nice kit (electrostatics, magnetism, batteries, electromagnetism and electronics). I do not know of course if it is on the US market, it is European.
Book (Score:4, Informative)
As an aside, the Art of Electronics book doesn't go into extreme depth on I&CE so you might want to buy some other books for that.
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I remember someone talking about some applications their friend made with a PIC, and Horowitz showed interest in potentially using that in their 3rd revision of the book. So that was almost 8 years ago, and there was at least talk of it, but that's the first and last
Pretty much the bible for EE's... (Score:4, Informative)
This book is pretty much the bible for Electronic Engineers, myself included. Takes you from the basics (a resistor does this etc.) as you requested up to high level stuff. Its in a pretty understandable language, and gives good examples, both of good practice and bad practice.
A good step to take would also be to familiarise yourself with a basic microprocessor too, My favourite being the venerable Microchip PIC. Good dev kits to play with for these are £100, such as the USB based PICDEM FS USB (£30), which uses the PIC18F4550, and is preloaded with a bootloader, so no need for any external programmers. Along with a good breadboard kit you could use this to produce some pretty powerful designs.
Also remember that many IC manufacturers have sampling options which for a private tinkerer like yourself you will find invaluable! Please do not abuse this system and spoil it for the rest of us though!
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If you'd like to get your hands a little dirty with theory I also highly recommend Agarwal and Lang's Foundations of Analog and Digital Electronics. It's not nearly as fun to read as Horowitz and Hill but everything you need to know is in there and well written.
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Yesss!!! The Art of Electronics is all you need to start with, in fact is "All You Need" (r). From there on just play yourself, experiment, read, burn capacitors, have fun!.
There are tons of more or less detailed projects in internet, ask Mr. Google
For a starter's microprocessor kit, I'll go fo Arduino [arduino.cc] it's cheap (22 euros plus shipping), all included (no need for a programer), and it's Open Source (well, that's slashdot, what else could you expect?;-).
If you're after audio look into DIY Audio & [lalena.com]
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Experiment! (Score:5, Informative)
I started with electronics properly in about September time. Probably the most valuable parts I have in terms of experimentation:
1. A large breadboard (the plug in type). This means you can rapidly try things out. I now have two breadboards - one small, and one large.
2. An oscilloscope. I bought a dual trace 20MHz Gould scope off an eBayer. I would have been lost without it. The dual trace is very useful too when you need to compare signals or check that things are synchronized.
3. The Internet. Seriously - some good resources:
http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/ [ibiblio.org] - Lessons in Electric Circuits, a free book - will get you started.
http://www.standardics.nxp.com/products/ [nxp.com] Datasheets for every standard logic IC (4000 series and 74 series). Browse the site for chips you're interested in. They are cheap to buy from your local distributor (in Britain, you've got several choices - RS components, Maplin (a bit on the expensive side, but very fast delivery), Bowood Electronics (a superb small firm, fast delivery), Farnell (not used them yet, but they have an extensive catalogue).
http://www.wikipedia.org/ [wikipedia.org] Lots of good articles. I used their article on buck and boost converters to get started on making high voltage switch mode power supplies for my first proper project.
The first thing I did on my breadboard was make simple circuits and understand them - using the versatile 555 timer, making logic gates out of discrete components, making an oscillator from transistors, capacitors and resistors. Then learned about how inductors work - how to use a small inductor to make a DC-DC converter. Comparing how bipolar transistors and MOSFETs work. Making small practical circuits like pulse generators etc. Then using logic ICs
I then built a Nixie tube display (with 7 tubes) out of raw 4000 series logic - essentially, I designed and built my own UART to receive data from a computer's RS232 port and display it on the tubes, and to be able to send data back to select what to display on the tubes. (Two pages of pictures here: http://www.alioth.net/pics/nixies/nixies.html [alioth.net]). The nixie tube project was a great one to do as I had to learn lots of different things to be able to make it work: how to make a 170 volt switch mode power supply to the use of digital logic and how to debounce switches.
Now I've started designing and building an 8 bit computer based around the Z80, with flash ROM and static RAM plus an LCD interface etc. It actually works, too - I've got it running off a 4MHz crystal oscillator that I built. There's still a lot to learn - but I've gone from having very little knowledge of how to build electronic circuits to designing and building a simple 8 bit computer (with a keypad for input and LCD for output) in just a few months - if you're already experienced with software, learning about digital electronics is fairly natural. I can really recommend building something reasonably complex out of discrete 4000 or 74 series parts, because this is a great vehicle for learning about digital electronics, and how the real world tends to impinge on you a lot more than it does with software.
Pictures of the rat's nest of wiring that's the Z80 project is here (I've not updated it in a few weeks, I have more photos and assembler code to go in soon): http://www.alioth.net/Projects/Z80/ [alioth.net]
Why the Z80? Unlike all other processors, the Z80 has registers implemented in static memory. This means when you're experimenting, you can clock the processor arbitrarily slowly - fractions of 1Hz if you really want (or even clock it by hand). This makes early circuits A LOT easier to debug. It's not hard to program, has superb documentation free to download from Zilog. It has separate I/O
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Disclaimer (Score:2)
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Maybe I'd better include this though
How to discharge a CRT:
http://www.instantarcade.com/discharge.php
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There should be a fairly thick wire going into the side of the tube. If you cut that (you probably want to use something with an insulated handle) then the end that's not attached to the tube can be used as a high-voltage source, a few tens of kV at low current.
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Microchip [microchip.com] or
Atmel [atmel.com]
or a small board level device like:
The Basic Stamp [parallax.com]
A very cool supplier of microcontrollers and accessories is:
Sparkfun [sparkfun.com]
And the usual suppliers:
Digikey [digikey.com]
Newark [newark.com]
Arrow [arrow.com]
Mouser [mouser.com]
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I tend to route things differently on perfboard to breadboard - I have found that the quickest way to use perfboard (usually, I use tripad board) is to use transformer wire on the bottom of the board. Melt a blob of solder onto the iron tip, and plunge the end of the xformer wire into the blob, and it neatly strips off the enamel insulation. Then heat the solder holding the component to the perfboard
Bootstrapping Electronics MoJo (Score:4, Informative)
Well, this will take time, so as long as you keep that in mind...
Resource books:
ARRL Handbook
The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill
App notes from manufacturers in current interest areas
Freebie design software ( I like Altera, Analog Devices, Atmel )
Digikey catalog
Design tools:
In System Programmers's for current part interests
Assemblers, compilers, etc.
Evaluation boards for the multileaded surface mount parts ie DSP's etc.
Some PCB layout package (on linux) or web tool
Prototyping board - which is good for low frequencies
Stock up on full set of resistors 1/4 w 10 pcs per value
Caps and inductors are tricky - so you might want to buy them carefully
Good soldering station - when you get to surface mount you can thank me...
Roadmap:
Transistor diode circuits are easy, and you can analyse them by the ideal diode equation and ohms law.
Your Favorite Micro Family Here I've used Motorola(now freescale), intel, zilog, and atmel
DSP's? I've used Analog Devices, TI, and Freescale. Software tool availability and eval boards are key.
Analog circuitry has a long learning curve so I'll add to this thread later.
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You know, there's a slight problem with the Digikey catalog. It's not that it's bad or anything; on the contrary. It's quite a good collection of parts! Perhaps even a little too good. You see, the problem with getting the Digikey catalog is that there are so many cool parts that you'll want to buy them all!
Ow, ow, ow! My poor pocketbook!
Bootstrapping Electronics MoJo pt II (Score:2)
OK, I promised to get back to the analog stuff, so here it is ...but first...
Digital EE time to mastery 5 yrs
Analog EE time to mastery 7-10 yrs
Radio Frequency EE time to mastery 15 yrs
Video EE time to mastery 20 yrs
Why the difference?
Analog has everything depending on everything else, and it's a constant tradeoff. Finding the sweet spot in the design is iterative. Take good notes...
RF design needs physical understanding of parasitics - a cap might look like an inductor, an inductor like a cap, if
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Actually, I started with PICs and I'm beginning to tinker with 8051s. I was ZOMFG with the 8051 when I read you had access to the data and address bus, a uart (unlike low-end pics, where you have to bit-bang
First things first (Score:2, Insightful)
Textbooks (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Circuits-Handboo
It is a college-level textbook that focuses on the application of electronic circuits. Some advanced mathematics are required, but usually the modelling is on the simple side rather than trying to capture all the fine details.
Overall I consider it a highly useful book for designing everyday electronics. People who are working on cutting-edge technology might want something (even
Get an EE degree? (Score:3, Insightful)
Easiest School to Get Into (Score:2)
A couple of notes... (Score:1)
Tech schools tend to be better for the practical side of things. They will teach what works. The instructors there have usually had several years out in the real world. The instructors are there to teach.
Universities teach why things work. The instructors may have had some real world exp
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Re:A couple of notes... (Score:4, Informative)
This caught me out with my first board because without thinking I thought "of course I need to mirror image it".
Secondly, when learning, I think starting out with breadboard is a lot more productive than jumping straight in with PCBs! However, when it comes to making a PCB (I've now used strip board, tri pad board, and finally I've started making PCBs), a PCB is SO MUCH MORE FUN and easier to do than strip board, which is evil. The cheap glossy photo paper and laser printer method works *unbelivably well*. I couldn't believe just how well the toner transferred to the copper clad board, and how precise the traces were - if you covered it in a green solder resist layer it would have looked like it came from a factory.
Using IC sockets will help avoid frying ICs (and also makes the board easy to fix when one of your experiments accidentally puts a few too many volts where they shouldn't be).
yeth the cat hath my thonguah (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.makezine.com/ [makezine.com]
Lots of suppliers and circuits
http://www.nutsvolts.com/ [nutsvolts.com]
Online textbook
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/ [allaboutcircuits.com]
Forum
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/index.php [allaboutcircuits.com]
Just do it (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, decide early on if you want to get into analogue circuitry or if you're more interested in digital. It's two different worlds which ain't got much in common. The trend is that more and more circuits are digital. Even if the end-output or the inputs are analogue, that's often converted to/from digital and the rest done digitally.
Get the basics down pat (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/ [allaboutcircuits.com]
Knowing exactly what each component does, and what effect it has when combined with other components is paramount to understanding more complex circuitry. Even in a digital system there is a chuck of analogue stuff which will really confuse you if you don't know what it does (and whether it affects the
The Art Of Electronics (Score:1)
Make stuff. (Score:2)
From a working EE (Score:1)
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The constant-wattage irons get themselves too hot when they're just sitting there, and as soon as you start using them, they dump all their heat into the part and get too cold. If you get one with enough watts to avoid the latter e
Fix something (Score:2)
Mims (Score:1)
TI's MSP430 (Score:1)
How to DESIGN circuitry, or actually BUILD it? (Score:2)
While the basics of design can be learned from books (another plug for the "Art of Electronics" and the ARRL handbook here), when you go to actually put your creation into physical form, you are dealing with mechanical skills (soldering, PCB fabrication, wiring harness fabrication, chassis/packaging work, etc.)that can only be learned th
My problem has always been components (Score:2)
you can salvage some parts and fake others (Score:2)
test when you pull, so you're not keeping crap that doesn't work, and building projects with crap that cannot work.
and then, of course, th
even the math challenged can play :( (Score:2)
sigh. you should not be surprised that this becomes a big factor if you get deeply invested in something and work through the night building it, then work through two nights debuggin
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I'm experimenting by building an 8 bit computer. The breadboard and LCD were probably the most expensive parts. The actual components - the Z80 CPU
"Soldering on the kitchen table" (Score:3, Informative)
So, don't solder on your kitchen table. And always always always wash your hands after you solder.
Horowitz, Hill - try them (Score:2)
Oh, and even if You want to program microcontrollers, you'd still need at least some theory to really understand what you're doing.
Use the Military Courses (Score:2)
NEETS texts available free online... (Score:2)
http://www.tpub.com/content/neets/ [tpub.com]
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http://www.tpub.com/neets/book1/chapter1/index.ht
Horowitz and Hill (Score:2)
GREAT advice above, but I'm going to suggest... (Score:2)
You are now set to work your way through Grob. Once finished you will have the ability to design and build your OWN power supplies and you will have a thorough under
Learn to use a schematic layout package (Score:2)
In terms of schematic capture packages, I've used Eagle from cadsoft (http://www.cadsoftusa.com/ [cadsoftusa.com] and am very fond of it. The free version will let you do p
Choose your subject. (Score:2)
But my strongest advice would be: figure out what you want to do and focus on that. Saying you want to learn more about electronics is like saying you want to learn more about languages -- and you can do that, it's called linguistics, but if you want to learn a language that's a different proposition.
If you're an audiophile, learn about a
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Personally I use a good double-output
If you have the time and money... (Score:2)
Don't forget RF as an introduction to electronics (Score:2)
Of course, I think the best way to learn
Re:Don't forget RF as an introduction to electroni (Score:2)
If you're going to play with RF there are lots of excelent books out there. One of the standard ham references is Experimental Methods in RF Design by Rick Campbell, Wes Hayward and Bob Larkin. This is a real get-your-hands-dirty-and-experiment kind of book.
If you look EMRFD up on Amazon (or just about anywhere else, for that matter) you'll find lots of other references worth tracking down.
...laura
Magazines, Authors, and Soldering Irons (Score:2)
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Re:PIC (Score:4, Interesting)
I would start with "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill. Jim Williams' book is pretty good reading, too (Art of analog design or something like that). If you like audio amplifiers, Douglas Self's books are absolutely awesome. In my opinion, digital design is a skill while high performance analog is an art (much more interesting and far more difficult). Of course, any engineer or serious hobbyist should be able to do both well.
If you like microcontrollers, get a digital logic textbook and learn what is inside first. Anyone who writes stuff for microcontrollers should have no trouble drawing a detailed block diagram of one. You should be able to learn to program any given 8-bit chip in a couple of days, whether it's a PIC, 8051, AVR, Z80, 68HC11, or your own design. I am pretty sure most basic stamp developers don't even know what a finite state machine is. Hence, their mortal fear of assembly or machine code. Learning electronics with basic stamps is like learning to swim in a bathtub. Not to mention, the whole point of an 8-bit microcontroller is that it's extremely cheap. Even a moderately complicated robot might have dozens of them. Paying $50 a pop defeats the point.
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