Please suggest a microController with these features.

[pkshima]

I am looking for microcontroller with these features.
I would like to hear your suggestions .....

1) Easily available
4) Availability of free C compiler for Linux/Windows.
3) RS-232 port must. (+USB desirable)
2) The programmer should be easy to build and safe for the computer.
5) Lots of I/O ports.
6) Least number of external components which are easily available.
7) In circuit programming. but not that important.

Will be using it on my robots. i.e. will need as many as possible I/O pins for the motors and the sensors. So you know the best.
Since I will be using C, so ease in learning its assembly is not critical.

This question must have been answered elsewhere as well but I still couldnt figure out which one I should buy.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

This has been done in a poll before, with the MicroChip PIC being the runaway winner - it's by far the most popular micro-controller!.

The only slight problem is with C compilers, they generally aren't free, but limited demo versions are usually available. The vast majority of PIC tools are for Windows, although there are a small number of Linux ones about - apparently a C compiler is under development.

But in any case, it's important to have a reasonable working knowledge of assembler, you can't use a high level language effectively without it.

 

[pkshima]

Hi Nigel,

I heard about the Hitech PICC Lite compiler which is free

https://www.htsoft.com/products/PICClite.php

but it does not have support for PIC16F628 which you suggested earlier.
Any way out ?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi Nigel,

I heard about the Hitech PICC Lite compiler which is free

https://www.htsoft.com/products/PICClite.php

but it does not have support for PIC16F628 which you suggested earlier.
Any way out ?

Use assembler :lol:

Or simply compile it for the 16F84, then add the two lines to disable the comparators.

 

[Exo]

None of the C compilers (or any others for that matter) for the 16F series is really desirable. Especially when you start to write more complex programs. The reason is the 16F series instruction set isn't optimized for high level language support, so even a small and simple program will fill program memory quickly, due to compiler inefficiency.

If you really want to do C with pics got for the 18F series and buy microchips own C compiler. The 18F is optimized for C, and MC's own compiler works very gd at it, making programs nearly as small and fast as if they were written in assembler.

18F series pic also has the advantage of not using banks for program and data memory. Wich is nice cause bank switching becomes a pain in larger projects.

 

[samcheetah]

oh for the first time i see someone saying something good for microchip's C compiler. i have seen alot of discussions about C compilers for PICs but apparently nobody wants to talk about microchip's own compiler. thanx alot Exo for your comments.

and pkshima if you want a completely free C compiler for PIC the try out MikroC

**broken link removed**

 

[upand_at_them]

Although I like PICs, AVRs do satisfy all of Pradeep's criteria.

Mike

 

[samcheetah]

Although I like PICs, AVRs do satisfy all of Pradeep's criteria.

Mike

choosing between AVRs and PICs is just a matter of choice. you can do all the things with PICs that AVRs can do and vice versa. in my view PICs also satisfy all of pkshima's (or is it Pradeep?) criteria.

 

[upand_at_them]

While you can do the same things with PICs that you can with AVRs, items 2 and 4 in the original poster's list are more satisfied with an AVR.

There are free C compilers for PICs...MikroC, CC5X. But they have restrictions. WinAVR is a full compiler with no codespace limit.

And you can create relatively simple programmers for PICs, you can create a programmer for AVRs with just three resistors. I've done it and even wrote my own programmer software.

I like PICs because of the nanowatt technology. The datahsheets I've read show the AVRs still consuming more power. There's little difference otherwise; it's a personal preference which one to choose.

Mike

 

[bmcculla]

Silicon Labs have reall nice 8051s with JTAG programming and debug. They instruction on how to use their IDE with a free 8051 C compiler SDCC. Any 8051 should work with SDCC. 8051s tend to be cheap and easy to get.

Also worth a look is Zilog's Z8Encore. They have cheap kits that include the board, programmer and C compiler.

I've been using Cypress' PSoC lately. Their C compiler is $150 but their free IDE is really easy to use even with assembly. The chips are really flexible too; programmable op amps and other nice analog stuff.

PIC and AVR are also good choices but I thought I'd give you some other possiblilties. GCC will compile for AVR which is nice.

 

[Oznog]

oh for the first time i see someone saying something good for microchip's C compiler. i have seen alot of discussions about C compilers for PICs but apparently nobody wants to talk about microchip's own compiler. thanx alot Exo for your comments.

MCC18 is a great compiler. I ported a lot of HiTech PICC18 code to it, it does the job very well, I think MCC18 is a notch above PICC18 and will probably become much better still with time.

 

[pkshima]

Thanks a lot guys for helping me choose my uC.
yes!!! I chose PIC16F628.

I found it easily and it cost just Rs130 (USD2.6). thats wow!!!
considering what it can do.

The next issue now is to build a programmer for it. But there
are so many designs on the net :shock: from the one that
connects the chip directly to the parallel port to the USB ones capable of programming the whole PIC family and ICSP etc.

I am confused which one I should build. I guess the simplest one is not safe enough for the computer so I am inclined towards the next simpler one like the one shown at

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2005/05/p16pro40.pdf

But wondering If it will work with PIC16F628 without any changes
and if I can replace the 7405 with 7407 with no other changes.

thanks again for helping me make my PICk :wink:
Guess I can vote too

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanks a lot guys for helping me choose my uC.
yes!!! I chose PIC16F628.

I found it easily and it cost just Rs130 (USD2.6). thats wow!!!
considering what it can do.

The next issue now is to build a programmer for it. But there
are so many designs on the net :shock: from the one that
connects the chip directly to the parallel port to the USB ones capable of programming the whole PIC family and ICSP etc.

I am confused which one I should build. I guess the simplest one is not safe enough for the computer so I am inclined towards the next simpler one like the one shown at

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2005/05/p16pro40-1.pdf

But wondering If it will work with PIC16F628 without any changes
and if I can replace the 7405 with 7407 with no other changes.

The P16PRO40 works with any serially programmed PIC, it's just a question of suitable software - the two main free ones WinPicprog (mine!) and IC-Prog both support the 16F628.