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Building from scratch

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irisd

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I understand it is really easy to obtain microcontroller development kits from various sources. But is it recommended to start everything from scratch, like building power supply circuit to the finally adding the peripherals or will that be a waste of time?
 
Good question.

I did everything 'by scratch'. It is a great way of learning, its exprience, plus you have complete control over your own 'development system'. You're own headers for apps specifically for you (LCD's, temp sensors, motor control, anything! On the flip side, whether you see this as a good thing or bad thing, you may get stung by various quirks of micro's. For example, noise on the power line causing random reseting, layout issues with a crystal oscillator etc.

After spending a few years with micro's now, I wish to god I had bought a ready made kit :D I love my own dev boards, I use them every day, and they are completely customised for my purposes. But.....they took a long time to build, design (perfectionist right here) and meant I spent a large portion of my time on 'hardware' as opposed to actually learning how to probgram micro's.

So...ultimately, if you just fancy a nice project if PCB design to add to your experience that will allow you to use micro's for a specific purpose then sure, DIY ftw.

But, if you, like the vast majority of people here, wish to learn about microcontrollers, programming them, finding out just what they can do, and using them in future projects then by all means buy a dev kit :D It will get you programming in no time, without having to worry about the power supply, oscillator or anything else as it should be all there. Also remember, many companies design and sell these things....they must be doing something right.

Then, should you wish to make your own later, or use a micro in a specific project you would have built up your knowledge of software already, and for hardware, you can just clone idea's from your dev board :D (I'm sure many of us know the wonderfully simple '7805 regulator' circuit of by heart).

Just my opinion, I started with micro's the hard way and probably wasted far too much time on hardware rather than learning good software techniques, which IMO takes a lot longer.

Blueteeth
 
thank u !

Of course, having a deep understanding of circuits could not get better than the practical exposure. Neverthless,i was concerned about the cost i'll have to pay more by going the longer way? Like, if i use the basic LM7805, PIC 16F84A, required resistors and capacitors, how much would that go above the dev kit?
 
irisd said:
I understand it is really easy to obtain microcontroller development kits from various sources. But is it recommended to start everything from scratch, like building power supply circuit to the finally adding the peripherals or will that be a waste of time?

I must tell you are going in the right way.You can build from scratch.Its a best way of learning.

Some people buy ready made ones to make their lives easier.But not me I'm always with vero & breadboard circuits.All built by me.I gained many experience with it.
 
As you will have to buy a programmer anyway, can I suggest you look at a . It is a programmer and tutorial board combined. It also has the advantage that the designer posts here and lot's of posters have the same kit. This means that lot's of people are able to help when things go wrong.

Mike.
 
Definitely do at least some from scratch on breadboard. You learn more stuff that way. Dev boards often limit you in some way. That said, I have lots of em! :p

I've done both. A good compromise is to buy something like MeLabs PICProto boards or Nightfire Electronics' proto boards and have the routine stuff easy as soldering in a few components and still be free to do what you want from there.

I like to do some stuff on the proto boards, but **broken link removed** for fun temporary stuff.

Some of Nightfire's "kits" are very good deals. I ordered a bunch of stuff the other day.

I second the vote for a Junebug as a great start dev board, as well as a very nice programmer, all in one.
 
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It used to take a lot of external components and time to get a working system. Then it made a lot of sense to start with a prebuilt board. These days you can pluck a 18 pin PIC on a breadboard, add a bypass cap, 2 wires for power and ground, and 4 or 5 to connect it to the ICD programmer/debugger. Add in whatever switches, LEDs, LCD etc and you have a ready to run system. A system with exactly what you want on it.

Today most dev kit boards have way too much stuff on them. They are cluttered, often complex to configure, and costly. Not a great combo for anyone new to micro controllers.

The one execption I know is the JuneBug. It is first a very good programmer/debugger (Pic Kit 2 Clone). It also has a 18F1320 18 pin PIC onboard that can be connected/disconnected with a single dip switch. A few pushbuttons, LEDs and an IR reciever make it just right for getting started. I built 5 of them for use in my students. The cost of the JuneBug kit/parts is only a tad more then an Microchip PicKit2.:)

The 5 RS232 ICD2 clones I was using are now sitting in a drawer unused. :(
 
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Hi...

irisd said:
I understand it is really easy to obtain microcontroller development kits from various sources. But is it recommended to start everything from scratch, like building power supply circuit to the finally adding the peripherals or will that be a waste of time?

Wonderful Question,

Well... if you'll start from scratch ... it may help you in long term develoment in the field of microcontrollers and probably embedded systems...

Secondly,

Do take help of the forum asking for resources or links... so that you can design the reliable and easy things...

If making the programmer...

it is the wonderful idea... but consult this forum for more reliable ides...

Regards,

Simran..:)
 
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