Scenix uControllers

[Rob]

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Maddox <paul.maddox at ndirect.co.uk>
To: Synth-DIY <synth-diy at node12b53.a2000.nl>
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 3:15 AM
Subject: Re: Scenix uControllers


> Rob,
>
> > Well, FWIW, the pic chips have a pretty decent emulator that works in
> > software and its FREE!!! Every project I used it for was able to be
> proofed
> > first with the emulator and it helped immensely..
> >
>
> PICs do have a lot of support out there and there thousands to choose
from.
> But they're not as quick as an AVR (dont flame me please)
>
> >
> > OTOH, cant you write code in MPASM and emulate it and run it in a AVR? I
> > thought they were virtually the same thing? Isnt this what prompted the
> > lawsuit against Scenix?
> >
>
> Dont know about lawsuits but...
> MPASM and the AVRASM languages are different, many different commands,
> but they are similar enough that you can get tools to convert from MPASM
to
> AVRASM,
> though Ive not seen to go the other way ;-)
> The problem with assembler programming is that each time you pick up a new
> processor
> you have to learn the instruction set again.

Yep.. This is what has deterred me from getting into the avrs and such..

> The AVR was design to host C (it has 32 registers and you can use 6 to
give
> you 3  16Bit pairs)
> C is nice as its almost cross platform learn it and most of you programs
> will go straight from one
> processor into another. But its not as effecient as asembley programming
> (space/speed).
> Ive done a little with C, and what Ive found is its great to get complex
> stuff done but when I need
> the speed I go into the asembler file it generates and tinker with it to
> make it faster.
>
> Paul

I had some fella who had the crazy notion that the c to asm routines were
faster.. Maybe development wise, sure, but not otherwise. There is just no
way that c code is faster.. Maybe in most instances its as fast, but esp
from some of the time critical stuff done on a pic with a c compiler, I can
tell you you will run into problems at some point with timing esp if its
very crucial to the operations of the chip.\

As for the AVR being faster, well, no kidding! ;)


Rob