As an "academic" task I'm looking through the options for
microprocessors that are relatively easy to program and dont require
expensive hardware, however the list is endless and the number of
options in both programmers and hardware is vast. At the super simple
end you have the picaxe - effective for simple/low stress tasks etc and
uber-simple to program, but not overly quick and very limited in program
space. Then looking at the AVR ATMega items they seem well suited to
complex projects, programmable in C?, high performance etc but very
expensive for hobbyist/educational tasks. Theres basic stamp stuff, I've
never used it but it looks fairly pricey.

Is there a site I've not found that compares the available
architectures, simplicity/expense of the programming hardware/softare
etc? I'm looking for possible 1st year degree level robotics projects -
picaxe doesnt quite hack it flexibility/speedwise and im looking for a
good step up with plenty of ability at a low-ish cost! Most students
have a grounding in C and could deal with things like pascal etc if
required, assembly isnt out of the question but not preferable.

Any pointers for me? I seem to only find commercially biased sites by
manufacturers/retailers.

J

coyoteboy wrote:
As an "academic" task I'm looking through the options for
microprocessors that are relatively easy to program

Heh. Dreamer. 8-)
There is a newsgroup that speciaizes in this.
If you are going to dabble, you should start reading it.
I'll give you some sample threads (plus 1 for starters):
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.e...antages-of-AVR
http://groups.google.com/group/comp....-*-*-*-sourced
http://groups.google.com/group/comp....C-code+Digikey

Is there a site[...]that compares the available architectures,
simplicity/expense of the programming hardware/softare etc?
I seem to only find commercially biased sites[...]
[...]picaxe[...]AVR ATMega[...]basic stamp[...]

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....ery-C-friendly

[...]and dont require expensive hardware

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.e...cks+3v3-supply
http://groups.google.com/groups/sear....arch.embedded

On 2007-07-27, coyoteboy wrote:
As an "academic" task I'm looking through the options for
microprocessors that are relatively easy to program and dont require
expensive hardware, however the list is endless and the number of
options in both programmers and hardware is vast. At the super simple
end you have the picaxe - effective for simple/low stress tasks etc and
uber-simple to program, but not overly quick and very limited in program
space. Then looking at the AVR ATMega items they seem well suited to
complex projects, programmable in C?, high performance etc but very
expensive for hobbyist/educational tasks.

AtTiny is similar but smaller and less expensive, can still be programmed
in C, although the assembler's not bad either, having plenty of registers
makes life easy for assember beginners, and a decent stack size helps the
experts.

Theres basic stamp stuff, I've
never used it but it looks fairly pricey.

this is my impression too, also it's slow like picaxe iirc.

Is there a site I've not found that compares the available
architectures, simplicity/expense of the programming hardware/softare
etc?

who would maintain such a site, it could be considerable work.

Bye.
Jasen

On 28 Jul, 00:55, JeffM wrote:
coyoteboy wrote:
As an "academic" task I'm looking through the options for
microprocessors that are relatively easy to program

Heh. Dreamer. 8-)
There is a newsgroup that speciaizes in this.
If you are going to dabble, you should start reading it.
I'll give you some sample threads (plus 1 for starters):http://groups.google.com/group/sci.e...e_frm/thread/3...

Is there a site[...]that compares the available architectures,
simplicity/expense of the programming hardware/softare etc?
I seem to only find commercially biased sites[...]
[...]picaxe[...]AVR ATMega[...]basic stamp[...]

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....e_frm/thread/a...

[...]and dont require expensive hardware

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.e...roup:comp.arch....


Thanks for those links, I appreciate the effort you put in there. It
does look like the Atmel AVRs are a good option, obviously cheap and
good are mutually exclusive and I'd rather have good than cheap. I
think I'll look deeper at them.

Thanks!
James

On 29 Jul, 08:33, Jasen Betts wrote:
AtTiny is similar but smaller and less expensive, can still be programmed
in C, although the assembler's not bad either, having plenty of registers
makes life easy for assember beginners, and a decent stack size helps the
experts.

Will take a look, I'll be needing a fair amount of program space and
stack space so it could well be useful.

who would maintain such a site, it could be considerable work.

True, but often "community" sites collate this sort of info. However
most links ive found online rave about the Atmel processors so i think
I'll be tempted to branch out!

On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:33:05 +0100, coyoteboy wrote:

As an "academic" task I'm looking through the options for microprocessors
that are relatively easy to program and dont require expensive hardware,
however the list is endless and the number of options in both programmers
and hardware is vast. At the super simple end you have the picaxe -
effective for simple/low stress tasks etc and uber-simple to program, but
not overly quick and very limited in program space. Then looking at the
AVR ATMega items they seem well suited to complex projects, programmable
in C?, high performance etc but very expensive for hobbyist/educational
tasks. Theres basic stamp stuff, I've never used it but it looks fairly
pricey.

WHERE are you?!?!

Hachiroku ãƒ�ãƒ�ãƒ*ク wrote:
On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:33:05 +0100, coyoteboy wrote:

As an "academic" task I'm looking through the options for microprocessors
that are relatively easy to program and dont require expensive hardware,
however the list is endless and the number of options in both programmers
and hardware is vast. At the super simple end you have the picaxe -
effective for simple/low stress tasks etc and uber-simple to program, but
not overly quick and very limited in program space. Then looking at the
AVR ATMega items they seem well suited to complex projects, programmable
in C?, high performance etc but very expensive for hobbyist/educational
tasks. Theres basic stamp stuff, I've never used it but it looks fairly
pricey.

WHERE are you?!?!


Is it relevant? In the UK!