Which microcontroller should i choose for hobby development and training

[Oystein]

Hi.

I wonder which microcontroller I should choose for small hobby projects and self-eduaction.

I've had a basic course in microcontrollers where I was trained in the use of the MC68HC11 MCU. I want too continue using Motorola, but I want to use a newer chip with better capabilities, i.e. FLASH.

I also need some sort of education board where the MCU can be removed so I can use it as a programmer too. In my studies I've worked with the EVBplus2 board and I like the design and features of this board.

I was also hoping to get this at a cost that will suit my poor student economy.

Yours sincerely

Øystein Bordvik

[Oystein]

Thanks for your answers.

From what I have learned in this thread and other places on this site, I think I'll start off with the MC9S08Q8 demo board. I think that 16 pins will suit almost all the projects that I am capable of building.

It was mentioned in this thread that the demo board runs on 3 Volts. Why is that a problem for hobby projects? I'm not good at circuit design so any help would be appreciated.

[peg]

Hi Oystein,

I mention the 3V as it runs on a max of 3.3volts. This limits the devices that can be easily interfaced to it. Up until recently the majority of "general purpose" electronics runs at 5 volts. Tricks can be employed to interface 5volt parts to these devices although it is best to stick with all 3.0-3.3volt. 3.0volt versions of parts are still only quite rarely available in most hobbyist oriented suppliers.

Its not going to stop you, but I thougt it should have been considered.

Regards

Peg

[UcTechnoGeek]

Sorry, I didn't realize folks might see my posts as supporting a particular company.

FYI, I work for a multi-billion dollar design company and have access to millions of dollars of development equipment.  Working on electronics at home for a hobby, it was just nice to find a low cost product that actually did what was advertised.

I'll be sure not to mention "the company that will not be mentioned" again.

By the way there are many other good HCS08 debuggers out there also, but you'll pay more.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention...  Since their product is based on the OSBDM, it's obvious that "the company that will not be mentioned" monitors this Forum..

Best Regards,

uCTechnoGeek

Message Edited by UcTechnoGeek on 2006-11-2602:53 AM

[UcTechnoGeek]

I bought one of the WTBDMS08 debuggers from Witztronics and it works great!  Most of the 9S08 eval bds have a BDM connection, so you can learn with that and then use it for you own development later.

Only $49 and it works with any of the 9S08 devices (not RS08).

Used with CodeWarrior 5.1 you get a professional development tool set for less than $50.  You can't beat that...

http://www.witztronics.com/product_info.php?products_id=31

uCTechnoGeek

[Geezer]

uCTechnoGeek---
As noted by Alvin this is hardly the first time you've sung the praises of wiztronics, so perhaps there is something to it? What makes their BDM pod any better than a P&E USB multilink? Price is NOT an issue... only performance and features.

If I calll them direct will you be answering the phone? :smileyhappy:

Al

[peg]

Hi all,

I would second mac's suggestion of the DEMOQG8 board for those starting out. The only downside especially for hobbyists is the fact that it runs on 3 volts not 5.

On the other matter:

Gee, I hope no one here is suggesting that uCTechnoGeek is in fact Witztronics!

This cannot be true as "Witztronics is an organisation that believes in Chrisitan (sic) values".

I am sure that deception and lying are not included within these values.

He does seem to have some magical association with them though as only one week after rocco complained of there being no contact details there he was trawling through this comprehensive, essentially one product site and happened across some additional contact info that he noticed had been added to the site. Then felt the need to bring it to our attention. Mind you there is still no phone no fax no street address and no country.

It does appear that it is only a pre-built OSBDM as well.

Regards

Peg

[mke_et]

An 08 platform might be ok for starting out, but remember, he was starting with an 11 and was looking for a change. 11 to 08 would be kind of tough. 11 to 12, while not that simple, is quickly accomplished. In my case, I separated things down to 'big' areas.

1) Init of the 12 - Totally different. I had other stuff I did for the 12 so I had a decent template to use.

2) Peripheral interfacing - May be different, depending on application. In my case I went from the 11 operating with an address/data bus to memory mapped peripherals to a single chip design. So I just spent some time making subroutines to talk to all my devices. My biggest issues here were conversion of the FLASH routines I wrote for the Waferscale part to use the FLASH and EEPROM in the 12.

3) Main program code - Surprisingly familiar. While there were differences, it was actually fairly easy to convert. Most of the issues were 'assembler' issues, and as I'd find one of them, I'd make a note of it and then do global changes on it. I even got the old math routines that were used with the 11 to convert to the 12 with very little problem.

4) CPU enhancements. The 12 was a breeze programming flash paging. My original 12 product came in multiple 'flavors'. I ended up putting all common management code on the fixed page at C000, all IO code on the common page at 4000, and then put EACH of my 'flavors' on a different page that swapped in at 8000. I ended up with everything I've done, all on one chip! I just had to write a little management routine to swap modes around. (And still managed to use one flash page for data!)

Not to make this a 12 hijack in the 08 forum, but I think he should be looking heavily at the 12 family, unless it's a real simple design that he can easily redo in the 08 family.

Mike

[Nabla69]

Hello UcTechnoGeek,

I will use a touch of humour with a rethorical question... !!!!

Do you have shares in Wiztronics or they really have good stuff ?!?

85.7% of your posts are plugging one of their products

Alvin.

[bigmac]

Hello Alvin,

To be fair, if UcTechnoGeek has shares, perhaps it is with Witztronics rather than Wiztronics.  As has previously been observed, rather less is revealed about the company with two T's.  For instance, they don't seem to disclose a street address or telephone number.

From time to time, others do promote relevant products on this forum, but are open about any affiliation they may have with the product.

Regards,

Mac

[Nabla69]

Hello Mac,

Far from me was the idea to start of polemic. I merely asked by setting the tone of my question.

I'm very please ucTechnoGeek replied.

Also it's very nice to hear about other third parties than the usual suspects.

Whois at register.com will give you the street address of the company with matching post code, a contact name and a phone number. However, the fax number is obvioulsy a fake (555-555-5555), but they don't try to hide it.

Alvin.

[mke_et]

Well, with all the 'demo' and 'eval' type boards out there, it really is a tough call.

But consider that for teaching/learning you are NOT going for the cheapest or best fit. For this you want the best environment that is a superset of what you are really looking for.

So... For right now, I'd seriously look at what's available for the 08 and the 12. Then consider what you might use them for. Always keeping in mind that if you design/build something, you're either going to have to get a second developement board as you dedicate the first to your project (even if it is a big overkill), or more likely you can get a better 'family match' to a project with another chip variant. One thing to keep in mind is what interface you want. (More on that later)

For most of my stuff, I use the 12. I started with the 9S12Badge board and then went from there. Even on stupidly silly projects I used the 12, only because of the 'badge'. I used the stake pins to 'wire it in' to various projects, and then those projects may or may not actually used the 9S12DP256 that was on the badge board. In fact, one uses an 80-pin "A" part with only 128K of Flash (and I use ALL the flash!)

On the other hand, I needed a really small dedicated device that would take serial input and output encoded data and control a few lines. I chose an '08 for that. In this case, size (physical) was a serious issue, I had to fit the whole thing on a PCB
smaller than a credit card, including a cardedge that takes the place of the MON08 interface so I can just 'drop in' the card to program it.

Overall, the only real thing I wish was that I could have used BDM for everything. But the 08 project didn't leave me that option.

Now... If I were doing more design of new projects, I would make up a small protoboard that would have cables that I can plug into the 'Badge' board to use as my design platform. But even still with the wirewrapping I can get projects up fairly fast. I just design the project with the 9S12DP256B on the 'badge' then set conditionals in the code for how I want to build with the final project and conversion is usually fairly easy.

By the way, that 'A' part design was originally based on the '11 part, with a WaferScale part as a port expander and paged flash. I took an existing board and blew off the 11 and WaferScale. Then 'wired in' to the 9S12Badge board 'as if' it were a design in replacement. Oh, there were lots of changes. The 11 design had 2 serial ports that were switched by a portpin on the WaferScale which now went away and I had two ports direct. I also changed a lot of the other peripherals around, do to an LCD panel on the AD bus on the 11 mapped by definable port pins now being a 'bit bang' for control on a generic I/O port on the 12. But it allowed me to get the design up fast and then worry about all the software conversions.

Message Edited by mke_et on 2006-11-2410:39 AM

[joerg]

Hello Oystein

Why not trying the HC(S)08 family. Since i have been teaching the HC11 for years, i think for hobby purposes the HCS12 is to heavy. So HC08 and HCS08 are the choice. IF you prefer to design with 5V supplies the HC08 family with the big variety is just fine. For this family i would suggest a MONLINK08(USB) programmer (a simple selfmade serial programmer works also fine, but the MONLINK08 gives more freedom). To start with the HC08 family a MC68HC908 Q4 or MC68HC908Q8 for small projects or a MC68HC908AB32 for bigger projects are fine. For designs with 3.3V supplies you can start wit the HCS08 family and a free BDM a programmer. A MC68HC9S08GB32/60 is a good MPU to start with.
IF you are familiar with assembly look at my simple OS (EBS08) for the MPUs mentioned above). More info -> www.systech-gmbh.ch HC(S)08 System or EBS08 (the OS).

Saluti Joerg

[bigmac]

Hello,

For an 8-bit MCU, you might consider the DEMO09S08QG8 board.  This has an on-board BDM interface for programming and debug, and it is possible for this to be made externally available for programming your own boards that use the 9S08QG8 device, or other 9S08 devices.  The 'QG8 device is limited to 16-pins, but includes a good range of peripherals.

If you want to use a device that was backward code compatible with the 'HC11, you would need to choose one of the 9S12 16-bit MCUs, at considerably more dollars.

Regards,

Mac