Embedded processors for DIY projects ?

[Michael Buchstaller]

Hello group,

i do know that this topic does show up every now and then.

But, i am looking to get into using a simple micor controller for some
of my DIY projects.

My first contat with them was made 2 years ago as i purchased one
of the Ceibo/Philips development kits for the Philis 80C750 line. I thought
that this would be a wise decision because it is an 8051 derivative, and this
CPU was told to me as to be very common. But when i tried to get some
MCUs for a project, i found them to be really hard to come by. That lead me
to the discussion that this is not very useful, especially if the processors will
be going into another project of mind (not music related; a handheld multimeter-like
device for calibrating camera shutters), and i did not want to have problems every
time i need some new processors.

Then, last year a friend workong at Future Electronics told me that Motorola would
be the #1 in microcontrollers, and that for simple 8 bit processors the 86HC11 would
be THE solution to me. So i got the HC11 welcome kit, and fiddled around with it for some
time. It was nice, but then i realized that the 1 KB EEPROM was not enough for me,
and the 2 KB versions are no longer produces - Bah !

So now i am in the search for a processor line to head for. What i am specially interes-
ted in, is:

- Scalability (price-wise) there should be cheap units (no more than $15 a piece) for
  simple devices that do not need much computing power, and also faster ones in which
  i could reuse parts of my code for more complex/demanding applications
- Availability of an (affordable) in-circuit single step debugging tool so i can plug a cable
  into my current project at the bench and measure in/out lines with the scope while
  tracing instructions through the code
- Availability of versions with 8 or 16 bits DAC´s and ADC´s
- EEPROM programming memory to shorten development cycles, in sizes from 2 KB
  to (say) 8 KB, larger sizes a plus
- RAM 64 to 512 Bytes
- The development system should not cost an arm and a leg. I am looking for a starter
  kit in the price range of $300 max.
- a C compiler would be nice (included in the IDE, not some external cross-compiler)

As far as i have seen, there are only AVR´s and PIC´s that would match my criteria
(ninus the C language)
All other ones seem to have the old problems of being hard to get.

Another issue would be the availability of these MCU´s in DIP cases, so i do not need
to use an expensive and fiddly PLCC socket. (i do not have SMD soldering equipment)


Often i wonder why the decent development environments are so extremely costly. Are the
manufacturers not interested in getting new customers for their MCU´s ?
I mean, for TI, AD or Motorola DSP´s, you often get evaluation boards and kits for free...

Any hints ?


-Michael Buchstaller