Processing At the heart of most new electronics projects is a microprocessor. PICAXE The processor of choice for me at the moment is a PICAXE microcontroller. The PICAXE is based on the popular PIC series of micro controllers by microchip, however they are pre-loaded with a "bootstrap", the bootstrap simplifies the whole process of prototyping electronics as it allows the PICAXE to be programmed via a 3 wire interface. The bootstrap does slow the processing speed, however with the newer X2 series able to perform at clock speeds of up to 64MHz it will not make a difference for prototyping. I think the best feature of the PICAXE range is the inbuilt command support such as USART and I2C, the PICAXE provides a simple interface for these commands and it takes care of the rest of the management with all the correct timing and everything. There is no need for complicated libraries or bit-bashing. I would really recommend these processors for development purposes, and there is an excellent support structure for them.
AVR
I have recently started to use these processors as I though
that I would need to upgrade from the PICAXE some point in
the future. The AVR's are made by Atmel and a popular among
hobbyists, capable of fast clock speeds. They can be
programmed in C using a complier, many people use an IDE
(Integrated Development Environment) such as AVRStudio4.
Despite knowing C, I found the AVR's very difficult to use.
I picked up the basic operations such as configuring
input/outputs, switching things on and off with bit
operations and using input switches very easily. But
when you want to do anything interesting, such as dim an
LED it becomes very complicated. You need to configure CPU
speed, read and write to control registers and monitor
their status for overflows and flags. Personally I thought
the data sheets were pretty bad and huge 300 pages+.
Having said that there are people who make very interesting
projects with them, and certainly they will be
useful for my projects so I will be persevering
with trying to use them. Again there is a very good support
forum that has tutorials and examples on using AVR's.
Audrino
I have not had any experience with using these
microcontroller, but like the PICAXE they are an AVR with a
Bootstrap. They are programmed via USB and in a language
based on C. From what I have read and seen they look like a
good step between PICAXE and AVR's.
|
© 2010 owner of HUSSTECHlabs.com. All rights reserved.