Hi Kirk, One of my favorite microcontrollers now is the dspic 30f4011(40pin dip) and 30f4012(28pin dip). They are programmed in C, have enough program memory and horsepower to do significant calculations in complex floating point math. See my VNA project using the 4011 at http://members.shaw.ca/swstuff/dspic-servo.html. I used in the 4012 in a complete servo control at http://members.shaw.ca/swstuff/dspic-servo.html
Both of these parts were picked because they are the largest memory devices in the pic 30f series that are still have .1" pin spacing (easier to prototype). Microchip is very generous with free samples (up to 3 of each processor type/speed). You can build a running micro with very few external parts. The trial version of the C compiler works very well even past its 60 day period. The processors are available in 2 speeds... 20 and 30 million instructions/second. There is a whole DSP core in the 30f series pics that I have not even looked at. In the projects above, you will find samples of code to run an LCD display, PWM outputs, encoder inputs, generic I/O, serial port(s), interrupts etc. I have a later version of the VNA software that uses a boot loader in the pic. A complete software reload only takes a couple of seconds via the serial port using the boot loader. I found the Pickit2 USB programmer is also a very fast device to use for programming pics and is available from microchip for about $40. You should be able to use your olimex programmer as well, but you may need to build a cable and adaptor board if your project board does not have an ICSP(in circuit serial programming) port on it. The adapter is needed because the programming pins on the dspic series dont line up with the pins used on the olimex board for the 16F series pics. see http://members.shaw.ca/swstuff/pg2c-adapter.html cheers from Western Canada Lawrence Glaister VE7IT aka LawrenceG On Tue, 2009-06-02 at 10:43 -0700, Kirk Wallace wrote: > Sorry, I know this was answered recently, but what is the preferred > micro-controller, PIC, AVR, etcetera? My only requirement is that I can > (try to) program it with Linux, preferably with C. I'm looking at > controlling a DC motor (PWM) and a few digital I/O ports for a tool > changer. I'll probably link to it with SPI or Modbus. I have an Olimex > programmer and breadboard with a 16F688 on it. I got as far as flashing > an LED, but stopped there. Since I am basically starting from scratch, > should I continue with PIC or is it worth switching to something else? > > I wonder if there is enough demand to have a micro-controller page on > the wiki? If so, does anyone have past or current project material that > could be cleaned up for the page? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OpenSolaris 2009.06 is a cutting edge operating system for enterprises looking to deploy the next generation of Solaris that includes the latest innovations from Sun and the OpenSource community. Download a copy and enjoy capabilities such as Networking, Storage and Virtualization. Go to: http://p.sf.net/sfu/opensolaris-get _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
