Newbie to Microcontrollers

[methos]

Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any guides in getting involve with microcontrollers...the closest thing I have in dealing with them are simple Basic Stamp modules. Basically I'm looking for a good starting point
thanks

 

[dirace]

Try this book
It was posted in the Forum some time ago.

Uploaded file:

 

[frankiboy]

Or you could visit https://www.avrfreaks.net for information about Atmel's AVR microcontroller.

Easy to program, lot's of free developement tools and cheap starter-kits and emulators.

 

[mrcube_ns]

Try to w*w.microchip.com

There you will find everything what you need for pic micro controllers.

Regards.

On 2002-04-19 04:45, methos wrote:
Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any guides in getting involve with microcontrollers...the closest thing I have in dealing with them are simple Basic Stamp modules. Basically I'm looking for a good starting point
thanks

 

[hugo]

You can try to search the board with:
"pic";"pic book";"pik"; etc.
Good luck!

 

[Lkpa]

Hi,

I think you can start with pic 16f84. This is a Microchip microcontroller's and you will find a lot of design in the net. You can download the development tools and documentation from Microchip site.

Regards.

Lkpa

 

[nitchel05]

I recommend you to start using a simulator. With it, you can create circuits before implementing or your board. Also you can add code to you uC. Try Proteus. Search in teh forums. You can download the demo version from: http://www.labcenter.co.uk
I hope my advice can helps you

 

[pilot]

If you want a very simple start, you can
use PicBasicPro, which is a basic
compiler for Pic mcus. It is a step more than
stamp modules and you have much more control on the hardware. Later you can use a good
C compiler. If you are newbie, as it seems
from your request, I suggest you to use a C
compiler, avoiding, unless neccessary assembly, because in this way your code will
be highly portable and you will be able to
program any sort of microcontroller, DSPs etc
with minimum effort and quickly. Let assemply
only for special cases.
Follows pic basic pro V2.30.I am not sure if
it is the last version, anyway you can start with it.


Uploaded file:

 

[scatgat]

You can start with these two FAQ.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/microcontroller-faq/68hc11/

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/microcontroller-faq/8051/

They are about on the two most popular
microcontroller in the word.

hoping this can help You.
Bye.

 

[Crisbe]

If u want to start with an uC u should use a quite simple one with a simple tool-chain. So I think u should start with a PIC. U can get a complete EDA from https://www.microchip.com
The program have a simple simulator u can start with and some simple examples. If u want to burn your prog in a real chip there are many circuits found in web (search after willem).
And: Don't think not to learn assembler. U will need it really! There are often bugs in C-Compiler but u can always analyse the transfered code.

 

[erickki]

I think there are many users, which are used these Starter Kits. I'd like to hear your opinions about these before buying. How are these kits documented ie starting to use the kit is 'easy'? How are these kits expandable? Can anyone recommend any kit to the beginner?

 

[SphinX]

Hi,

Look at

**broken link removed**

Pharaoh of Egypt

 

[radu]

If you wanna do something decent i suggest doing it in ASSEMBLY; forget about Basic or C (not so much about C but still). I'm talking from experience, because i made the mistake of spending money on Parallax (which is a good thing for high school). I taught myself assembly for the PICs in 2 days (of course there are lots of tricks still to learn). The book mentioned above PIC microcontroller is very good for beginning; and PIC programmers go for $60-100. Good luck!

 

[algilsan]

suggestion

In my opinion, at first, it doesn´t matter the micro you choose. Like PIC's family, 8051 family, st60, etc. The most important is that you understand microcontrollers architecture. Choose a micro, find docs about this micro, and attemp to understand it, a first will be hard because asm instrucctions may be a bit problem. ypu have to profundize in this micro and unterstand everything on it. In a bit time yo will have the necessary knwoledge of it. Then get a emulator and a compiler of this micro to run application and probe your knowledge. Step by step you'll undertand the micro and you be a little independient from the micro, using a C-Compiler, Basic compiler, etc. At the end you'll be totally independient form the micro ( you will only use low level routines to make you low level drivers, like acces a port, a timer etc). and you can choose another micros.

Start whit PIC's family or 8051 falimy will help you. In thier basic versions, they are very esay to understand.

 

[skynet]

I agree with algilsan, learn hard and understanding of memory management will make you easy to understanding uC even easier. Look for microchip p16f84, that will safe you a lot of money and time, furthermore microchip provide a lot of documents for u to write various kind of applications, such the macro provide by microchip keep you away from writing a lot of code which is commonly use, so what?? save your time!
If you wan to have a try to learn about it.. go to www.microchip.com and download the mplab development tool, it is free.... !! Good luck!!!

 

[erickki]

Thank you very much for good advices!