millwood
Advanced Member level 3
what's a good beginner mcu depends on your perspective.
8051 for example is very simple and lots of sources -> low prices. Yet, the project has highly limited onboard peripherals and not that interesting / expandable, especially if you want to commercialize your skills.
PIC is slightly better with its peripherals but the product is on its last leg: we fired a PIC guy earlier this year and he is still without a job. yet we have a hard time getting an ARM guy.
those chips are great if all you do is hobby and you don't intend to commercialize your skills. if you do, you better be lucky.
AVR is a newer platform and much faster than pic. however, it is more hobby than industrial use, due to its young age.
if you are looking to make a living out of your mcu skills, ARM is a great place to invest your time / efforts. it is more complicated than others, but only marginally in my view. the Cortex-M0/M3 chips are very price competitive and offer great performance for your dollar.
I wouldn't say that 8-bit is dead but it is more than fair to say that going forward, your return is likely far greater on a 32-bit system.
8051 for example is very simple and lots of sources -> low prices. Yet, the project has highly limited onboard peripherals and not that interesting / expandable, especially if you want to commercialize your skills.
PIC is slightly better with its peripherals but the product is on its last leg: we fired a PIC guy earlier this year and he is still without a job. yet we have a hard time getting an ARM guy.
those chips are great if all you do is hobby and you don't intend to commercialize your skills. if you do, you better be lucky.
AVR is a newer platform and much faster than pic. however, it is more hobby than industrial use, due to its young age.
if you are looking to make a living out of your mcu skills, ARM is a great place to invest your time / efforts. it is more complicated than others, but only marginally in my view. the Cortex-M0/M3 chips are very price competitive and offer great performance for your dollar.
I wouldn't say that 8-bit is dead but it is more than fair to say that going forward, your return is likely far greater on a 32-bit system.