Motorola spec. vs Microchip

[mayo]

I am an old programmer of PICs. I hear good coments about motorola microcontrollers, but I dont work with its.
How are Motorola microcontrollers compared with PICs ??
Peripherics (A/D, IIC, SPI) ??
Instructions set ??
Hardiness ??
C programing ??

I hear that motorola microcontrollers are designed for In Circuit Debug and Programmnig, and I am very interested in this.
Is true ?? How this work ??

All coments are welcome.
Thanks.

 

[Jay.slovak]

I hear that motorola microcontrollers are designed for In Circuit Debug and Programmnig, and I am very interested in this.

I don't know Motorola's, but I suppose they have JTAG programming/debugging interface (should be comparable to PICs).

Do you have any reason to switch from PIC? I don't think Motorola has such a wide colection of MCUs to chose from. (Comparing to Microchips MCU for every occasion, as you certainly know).

 

[Joel Rainville]

One guy over at AVRFreaks.org, who has worked with Motorola's HC08s in the past seems to think that Freescale (which now owns Motorola's uC division) are currently shooting themselves in the foot at every step they take to update the product line. Apparently some of their moves make the newer models completely incompatible with some of the original Motorolas...

I have a few Freescale/Motorola HC08 samples in a box if you want them Freesclae will be happy to send you some too :lol:

In my very short experience with microcontrollers. I am under the impression that Atmel AVRs and Microchip PICs represent a pretty good part of the 8 bit microcontroller market...

 

[instruite]

Hi
Well freescale (previously motorolla) is one of the leading manufaturers of microcontrollers in the comercial areas like automotive, mobile communications, etc.
In our designs we never use PIC microcontrollers altough I have used it in college and for hobby.
The microcontrollers from Freescale and renesas (which I use) are much more powerful then PIC microcontrollers (obviously I am talking about the best available from each )
and yes freescale microcontrollers do have incircuit debugging (actually its very necessary for our kind of applications).
and its said everything have disadvantages also
Microcontrollers of freescale are expensive compare to PICs and not all the micrcontrollers come in DIP package (which normally students and hobbyists prefer because of ease of soldering )

 

[instruite]

Jay.slovak wrote:

Do you have any reason to switch from PIC? I don't think Motorola has such a wide colection of MCUs to chose from. (Comparing to Microchips MCU for every occasion, as you certainly know).

Jay, I dont agree with this point
I am not fan of any microcontroller manufacturer but freescale do have wide collection of micrcontrollers

 

[Joel Rainville]

The microcontrollers from Freescale and renesas (which I use) are much more powerful then PIC microcontrollers (obviously I am talking about the best available from each )

Are you comparing apples to apples i.e. 8-bit microcontrollers? On paper, the HC08 series seem to offer pretty much the same features the PIC does, at basically the same frequency, taking into account the divide by 4 clock on the PIC...

 

[Joel Rainville]

Jay.slovak wrote:

Do you have any reason to switch from PIC? I don't think Motorola has such a wide colection of MCUs to chose from. (Comparing to Microchips MCU for every occasion, as you certainly know).

Jay, I dont agree with this point
I am not fan of any microcontroller manufacturer but freescale do have wide collection of micrcontrollers

Indeed. I am looking at a "Freescale Selector Guide" document right now, and there are hundreds of 8-bit controllers. The selection seems just as broad as Microchip's... And very similar

 

[instruite]

instruite wrote:
The microcontrollers from Freescale and renesas (which I use) are much more powerful then PIC microcontrollers (obviously I am talking about the best available from each )


Are you comparing apples to apples i.e. 8-bit microcontrollers? On paper, the HC08 series seem to offer pretty much the same features the PIC does, at basically the same frequency, taking into account the divide by 4 clock on the PIC...

I knew somebody might put this point thats why I wrote

I am talking about the best available from each

Which means the best microcontroller freescale offers and Microchip offers

 

[Joel Rainville]

instruite wrote:
The microcontrollers from Freescale and renesas (which I use) are much more powerful then PIC microcontrollers (obviously I am talking about the best available from each )


Are you comparing apples to apples i.e. 8-bit microcontrollers? On paper, the HC08 series seem to offer pretty much the same features the PIC does, at basically the same frequency, taking into account the divide by 4 clock on the PIC...

I knew somebody might put this point thats why I wrote

I am talking about the best available from each

Which means the best microcontroller freescale offers and Microchip offers

Which means comparing 32 bit microcontrollers/DSPs to 8 bit microcontrollers and 16 bit DSPs... :roll:

 

[instruite]

Joel Rainville wrote:

Which means comparing 32 bit microcontrollers/DSPs to 8 bit microcontrollers and 16 bit DSPs...

I guess you are right the bests of both cannot be compared
because Microchip doenot offer such high end microcontrollers

 

[Jay.slovak]

Jay.slovak wrote:

Do you have any reason to switch from PIC? I don't think Motorola has such a wide colection of MCUs to chose from. (Comparing to Microchips MCU for every occasion, as you certainly know).

Jay, I dont agree with this point
I am not fan of any microcontroller manufacturer but freescale do have wide collection of micrcontrollers

Indeed. I am looking at a "Freescale Selector Guide" document right now, and there are hundreds of 8-bit controllers. The selection seems just as broad as Microchip's... And very similar

So I was wrong, but as I said

I don't know Motorola

so I have right to be wrong.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Joel Rainville wrote:

Which means comparing 32 bit microcontrollers/DSPs to 8 bit microcontrollers and 16 bit DSPs...

I guess you are right the bests of both cannot be compared
because Microchip doenot offer such high end microcontrollers

You also appear to ignoring the relative costs?, the Motorola devices are far more expensive than the PIC's. PIC's are designed for low cost, ease of use, and high performance - goals which they have achieved well, leading to their dominent position in the micro-controller market.

The Motorola/Freescale devices appear to be aimed at a higher market?, high cost, harder to use, and much more expensive.

I've no problem with using an expensive device if you absolutely require the spec it provides - but considering most PIC applications use only a tiny fraction of the power available, using a much more expensive device that wastes even more of it's power doesn't seem a very good move?.

I'm quite happy to use a PIC to replace a circuit that would normally use a 555, the simplification and greater performance makes it cost effective, but using a device that costs perhaps 10 or 20 times the cost of the PIC? would make me reconsider 8)

 

[mayo]

Thanks to all.

I have a best point of view.

I think that I continue with microchip

Thanks.