68300

Brian,

Here is some food for thought. I assume that you would like to spend most of
your time in application development, as opposed to hardware design. For
this reason you should consider an embedded micro controller with RAM and
FLASH based program space internal to the micro controller.

Further, the first thing to shop for is your development tools. I would
suggest a micro that supports a BDM debug interface. Look for C / C++
compiler next. All important is the debugging and download environment.
After you've chosen the tools, select the micro controller. You can waste a
lot of time if you pick the ideal chip first and then find non-optimal tools
to work with it.

There are many good Motorola parts that meet these criterion. Follow this
guidance and you will spend most of your time developing and not starting
the project.

FWIW,
Marty

-----Original Message-----
From: BrianJHoskins [mailto:BrianJHoskins@...]
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 4:54 PM
To: 68300@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [68300] What MicroController??


Hi all! I'm new to this group so first of all, pleased to meet you all :)


I'd appreciate a little advice on MicroController choice, but I'll just
give a short backround on myself first so you know where I stand.

I'm currently studying for an HND in Electronics, and I already have a
number of Electronics qualifications behind me so while I don't pretend to
be an expert on the subject (still have LOADS to learn) I do know a fair
bit, and I know enough such that learning knew stuff is simply a matter of
building on what I already know.  As far as Microprocessors go, I started
experimenting with them using the 6502 some time ago.  Having touched on
Assembly programming techniques with that, I moved on to the Z80 - and I
studied that in quite a bit more detail.  At the moment I've only really
learnt the theory behind MicroProcessor design and experiemnted with a few
of my own programs, so I've yet to gain the experience of designing and
building a complete system to solve a real application.

I have actually just started out on my 1st REAL MicroProcessor based
project - a MicroProcessor controlled coin meter to solve a problem for
the company I work for (I dont actually work in Electronics design though,
I do it as a hobby) and I haven't yet chosen a MicroController to develop
this project with.  I've always loved the 68000 series as a processor, and
I've already begun studying assembly programming techniques for it so that
I can develop real applications with it.  With that in mind, I'd really
like to base my first real MicroProcessor controlled project around the
68K series of MicroControllers.

Most people that I've spoken to so far have recommended the PIC, and I'm
certainly not ruling that suggestion out yet, but I really would like to
use the 68000 series if I can, because it would provide a learning
exercise that I'm interested in aswel, which would give extra motivation.
I've allowed myself 2-years development time for this project (because
it's going to be a learning curve) so I do feel that there's plenty of
time for me to get to grips with the processor properly.

As far as 68K based MicroControllers go though, I'm a little in the dark.
I've never played with them before and as a result I have no idea which
one to choose for developing my project with.  If anyone could offer any
good advice with regards to 68K based MicroControllers I'd be very
greatful, and I don't mind looking the information up myself at all so if
you know good links then please share them!  If you need to know more
about my project in order to offer the best advice just let me know and
I'll tell you all about it.  The thing is I don't really want to use a
controller that is way too powerful for my needs, or end up using one that
is underpowered or limited in some way, and also I'm going to need to
consider prices aren't I. So lots to do!!!

Any general advice would be most appreciated :) Thanks in advance.







----
Brian Hoskins
South Wales, UK

Email: BrianJHoskins@...
----





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