Hello, just another viewpoint from Dr. Atomic
Nigel Goodwin said:
Pretty much the same for an LVP (Low Voltage Programmable) PIC.
Depends on the programmer you build.
Yes, both are completely different.
Like I said, either would do the job - it's really a personal choice, PIC's are by far the most popular, but there's nothing wrong with AVR's - just that PIC's have been about for far longer.
But if you're looking for sheer power and a huge source code base then the venerable old 8051 family can't be beat (just my opinion). Atmel and a host of other companies make a wide variety of microcontrollers that have many built in peripherals. The cores are code compatible with most instructions available accross families with added instructions to handle the added functions. There are assemblers, compilers, cross-compilers for many languages ect... And a lot of them are free. And pretty advanced to boot.
Now I'm not putting down PIC's, AVR's or anyone else. I've just been a fan of the 8051 family since the 70's and they are pretty easy to use besides. There is even a single clock per instruction version that can give you an effective speed of 99mhz!!! Blah, blah, blah, I know. But they are worth considering. And the ISP (In system Programmable) versions make development with super simple hardware a breeze since you can finish the hardware construction and not have to fool around with sockets and other sources of problems involved with plugging and unplugging components.
Intel even did a version of basic that runs from internal ROM/EPROM/EEPROM memory. There is even a port of this original basic just for the newer CMOS versions of the 8051 that takes into consideration the minor structural differences in the chips. Let me know and I'd be happy to provide you with an image (ROM) file to burn into one. There are even versions of the 8051 that bring the external memory lines out on seperate pins so you don't lose ports adding more memory for bigger projects. At
**broken link removed** they even show how to interface an IDE HDD to one without a lot of external chipage. They use an 8051 version to make an MP3 player. They sell a small inexpensive 8051 development system that make a great testbed for all sorts of projects and are nice enough to provide 50 I/O pins for various hardware configurations. And a basic system monitor to program it via the serial port.
And as for up to date microcontrollers I just received some ATMEL versions with built in USB ports. So there is a wide selection to chose from. And the onboard memory is skyrocketing. A/D's, PWM, RS-232 ect..... All built in. I've even talked to some folks that have programmed their microcontrollers to emulate PIC's and AVR's for simulating across different platforms. I hope this helps a bit. Go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YoungScientistsClub for more information. I try to help folks an a $0 budget get parts for free and run a local club for low income kids that supplies parts for their projects for free out of my own pocket. I operate it and our philosophy is on the introduction page. There is information and some software and I'll post more upon request.