[sdiy] May Circuit Cellar article

[Eric Brombaugh]

Tim Parkhurst wrote:
> This month's Circuit Cellar has (what appears to be) an interesting 
> MIDI-related article. 

That's cool. He's using a BasicX-01 microcontroller from NetMedia:

http://www.basicx.com/

It's essentially an Atmel AT90S8515 MCU that's been custom programmed to 
run interpreted BASIC programs that have been tokenized on a PC and 
downloaded into flash memory. They go for about $40 for bare chips in a 
40-pin DIP. The processor has limited on-chip EEPROM (where the BASIC 
programs are stored), so for serious projects you need an external 
serial EEPROM. They'll sell you a full development system, with a 
prototyping board, cables, software, power supply for $140.

> There's also a nice ad from Futurlec on page 88 that shows an ATMega
> based controller for only $US21.50. Cheap enough to seriously consider
> throwing a few into modules and having some fun.

That's a smokin' deal! This processor is a bit of an upgrade from the 
one above because it also includes an 8-channel A/D. And it includes the 
prototyping board with all the connectors you'd need as well as a few 
LEDs. Note however that you'll have to program it in assembly using 
Atmel's free development software since it doesn't have the BASIC 
interpreter built in.

Eric