There is plenty of support for avr chips out there. I went the microchip way myself. Steep learning curve. Patience is necesary.
There are some very good tutorials. I would recommend buying the pickit2 programmer with the lpc(low pin count) starter board.
This comes with a 16f690 which is a very nice 20 pin chip with all the features you might need. Buy youself a 12f509 which will plug into the same board to start on something simple and when you feel ready, delve into the adc and eusart and i2c etc that the 690 has.
I know someone recommended the book "programming and customizing pic microcontrollers" but I bought it and think it is a great doorstop if nothing else. Maybe I just dont get his writing style but goto Microchip on the net and in the forums you will find recommended tutorials for starters.
David Mieklejohn from gooligum electronics has probably the best pic tutes you will find on the net. Do a search on google or microchip and you will see.
I’ll look him up right now. I’m probably going to purchase the PICkit2 starter kit, just because it seem nice and you’re the second person to reommend it. I requested Programming and Customizing book from my library, so if I don’t like it, it won’t matter cause I’m not paying for it
I thin kthere’s a shedload of info out there on pics. Mostly because it’s freely published by the manufacturer. Microchip made the unusual move of publishing technical documentation on all their products, AND they even give you a comprehensive FREE development environment.
Picaxe has a bootload prommed into it. It’s a sort of Operating System, which allows it to run BASIC programs, which is great for artists who want to mkae robots, but it can be limiting.
If you truly want to use microcontrollers, assembly is the only way to go. 31 commands in the Microchip RISC set. You could learn it in a day.
Oh, and Microchip will give you batches of 15 pics FOR FREE and they pay the postage.
I was in the process of ordering the PICkit 2 starter kit when I went to the checkout and it asked if I had a coupon code. Me being a cheap skate, I always search google, and I found one!
XEC472A
When ordering the PICkit 2 and using that code, you save 20% or 10.00USD!!
already shipped, it come 2 already shipped, it come 2 day air for 10 bucks, not bad. My boss was pissed today because i didnt go in cause my daughter has been throwing up for about 20 hrs now and he couldnt program any units. Oh well.
AVRs for me I went the AVR route. The big advantage is the Arduino. It is based on the ATMEGA168. Because of that you can mix and match the easy Arduino C++ API and the low level C bang the register _BV loving internals. You can use the Arduino Serial class for debug output without programming the UART yourself.
Microchip will send you 3 samples of any four of their devices (OKay, so it’s 12, not 15) if you go to their samples website.
I look at it this way: How many C commands are there? 31? 32? Well, Microchip RISC has only 31 commands (or 33 depending on the PIC).
So, you have code libraries (much like C).
Couldn’t be easier. In fact, I think that writing C for a microcontroller would probably be more complicated than assembler, because you still have to have a mechanism for doing all the low level stuff.
OKay, I have to check this out. I’ve never paid for a PIC. Must see if I can wangle one of these business accounts…
Yeah, it looks like there are lots of components they won’t allow you to sample any more (this was always the case, but it seems there are more in this category now) and they ARE now charging you postage.
Hey, $7.50 for 12 chips. How many robots are you gonna make?
I bought one to see if it was any good and it’s BRILLIANT. Identical in every way to the Microchip one, 100% compatible with Microchip’s FREE IDE … AND it comes with a demo board and a bunch of cables…!
Alright, I finnally was ready to check out from microchipDIRECT, when someone ordered the last of the PICkit 2 starter kits…back ordered until Feb 10. =\
