Microcontroller Newbie Needs Help

[LordKrispy]

I have used a microcontroller for an 68HC11 chip, it was nice and fast with
amny features. Do a search on google for the name (I cant remember)

"Kyle Yu" <kyu...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:oprnm56u...@news.attbi.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am relatively new to microcontrollers and am looking into a board to buy
> to get started. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should get. I am
> thinking about the Zilog Z8 Encore Kit. Does anyone have any experience
> with that kit? thanks
>
> --
> Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

[Rich Webb]

On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 23:00:18 GMT, Kyle Yu <kyu...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I am relatively new to microcontrollers and am looking into a board to buy
>to get started. Does anyone have any advice as to what I should get. I am
>thinking about the Zilog Z8 Encore Kit. Does anyone have any experience
>with that kit? thanks

Got one. Comes with lots of goodies so, in that sense, it's a good deal.
The chips have also started to show up in the distribution channels
(e.g., Digikey) which is also a Good Thing. For a while, you could get
the evel board but no other chips.

OTOH, the example code that comes with it is, to be kind, not all that
great. Still, it does work. It's very new on the market and it looks
like, for now, only the larger varieties (40 pins and up) are available.
Other families have members with, say, 8 pins and a built-in oscillator
(no crystal required) that are perfect for some small apps like
distributed control.

A couple other thoughts:

For general "roll yer own" purposes, take a good look at the Atmel
STK500 eval kit. The AVR architecture is much nicer to program and there
is a GCC port available (in addition to good, inexpensive commercial C
products such as Imagecraft's ICC-AVR). You can use the STK500 for on-
the-board prototyping (it has basic switches, LEDs, and configurable
jumpers) as well as being used for in-system programming over to a
breadboard or regular circuit card.

For motor control apps, also check out the IsoPod stuff at
NewMicros.com. They use Moto's DSP56F800-family and have built-in
quadrature decoders and multiple PWM channels. Fast, too. The official
development tools are pricey but New Micros has a link to a free port of
Small C. Plus, there's a built-in IsoMax Forth-like language.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA