[sdiy] A uC question and a circuit for those who need it.

[Fredrik Carlqvist]

I don't know the MCS51 but it sounds like an 8051 to me. I would avoid that,
there are so many better architectures. 8051 is slow and cumbersome. The
StrongArm should be overkill, but I don't know much about that one. 

I think the MSP430 could be a good choise. It's 16-bit, it has an
easy-to-use assembly language with powerful addressing modes for table
lookups etc. It's fast and code size efficient. There are free tools for
setting it up correctly (google for "makeapp msp430"). The versions with a
16-bit HW multiplier can be used to generate complex waveforms in realtime,
for example digital filters etc. as it contains MAC facilities. It also has
ok peripherals.

Personally I prefer the PIC18, but that's maybe just because I know it
already. The best thing about the PIC18 is that 1) they come in DIL packages
(in addition to SMD), 2) they are cheap, 3) I know them, 4) they are
indestructable, 5) they are very fast for byte operations (10MIPS) including
multiplication and indirect accesses, 6) they have loads of peripherals, 7)
it's easy to get free samples, 8) there are low cost debuggers. 

Speaking against PIC18 is maybe all the pitfalls in setting up the different
peripherals and possibly that it is 8-bit. If you would choose the PIC18, I
could help you set it up. 

Both PIC18 and MSP430 has USARTs, fast A/D converters, SPI ports, interrupt
on change, capture/compare/pwm modules etc.


Fredrik C