68hc11

[arod]

Hey, I am new to these boards but I have a quick question. I have some experience programming some of the Motorola 68HC11 microcontrollers from school. I was wondering if similar chips are still being sold and where I can purchase a board to program the microcontroller. I have seen a lot of stuff on the internet that has to do with PICs, but I really don't know the difference between them and say a 68HC11 microcontroller. At school, we used an evaluation board made by EZ micro for testing our code. The board had a bunch of different outputs to LEDs and such. I am looking for something that can be used in some circuit projects I might start.

Thanks

 

[eng1]

This microcontroller is obsolete now, but there are compilers and articles on the internet. Google for "68hc11". Check the first link for example:
http://www.hc11.demon.nl/thrsim11/68hc11/
or **broken link removed**
Many schools might be using this chip, I guess.
If you are familiar with assembly, you shouldn't have problems to start with PIC microcontrollers or other flash-based devices.

 

[3v0]

There is nothing wrong with a 68HC11. They are a bit dated.

There are only a few basic pic processors. The explosion comes in because they are packaged in an wide variety of memory sizes and peripheral devices. They even come with built in rf transmitters.

I do not know if you have ever used a ROM monitor or ICD (in circuit debugger). There is a tool known as an ICD2 from Microchip that has been cloned many times by many people. The ICD2 allows you to do run control (step and breakpoints), and examine memory. Fully symbolic.

Bill has put together a kit for one of these clones, The Inchworm, that is quite workable. It will seem slow compared to a true emulator. USB versions are faster.

Microchip provides a development environment for free. Several compilers exist. Some are free. Some are free but limited in some way. You can find C, Basic, Jal and Forth.

HTH
3v0