AVR-Chat

Mr Graham and others,

My apologies on the long delayed response. My kids got sick this
weekend, then my wife, and now I have succumbed!

I am planning on getting into **mobile** robotics. Off-topic, but I
have this prototying system called Fischertechnik, which is a neat
system often called "legos for adults" but is really more than that.
It's often used in colleges for industrial prototyping and sometimes
in industry as well. Google can help you if you are interested in
learning more (or ask me :) ). I have motors, sensors, etc. that I've
acquired over the years, and as I've mentioned, I've used other
microcontrollers in the past, but AVR's look very intriguing and it
looks possible to start relatively cheap.

(answering all of you guys at once, this might get long and confusing)

I don't know how much programming space I need, having never targeted
a AVR before! I'd like to program using the gcc toolchain if possible,
and I realize C++ adds overhead. I'll probably learn the native
instruction set (I'm a curious person) but I use C++ day in and day
out (I write simulations) so I like to fall back on what I know. So
I'd imagine with the overhead c++ might add, I may need a bit more
space.

I looked at some of the suggested boards and they look neat. Most of
them however only had 2 motor ports, I'd need at least four. I can
build an H-bridge, etc.

How hard would it be to start from scratch, with just a bare AVR chip?
I'd probably start with a thru-hole part and mount it on a solderless
breadboard for prototyping and go from there. Again, I'm doing this to
experiment, learn and have fun, I don't have a specific timeframe or
goal in mind. It seems like the minimum part count for an AVR is low
enough (voltage regulator, external crystal if desired, plus
programmer... correct me if I'm wrong) to encourage this sort of
experimenting.

Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but a minimalist "starter kit" could
be had with just a few AVR's, a ISP programmer and some voltage
regulators, correct?

Could someone please contrast the Dragon vs. the STK500? It looks like
the dragon is very minimalist (no cables or sockets) but can do
emulation and 32kb of debugging, whereas the STK500 is more
feature-rich with LED's and breakout board but no debugging
capabilities.

Graham, you mention a $52 programmer/debugger, can you link this? Or
is this the Dragon? I'm aware of the $33 AVRISP programmers (which
just program, don't debug, correct?) but nothing beyond that until you
get to the STK500/Dragon/and some more expensive solutions.

Thanks again guys this is some really good information.

On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 7:57 PM, Graham Davies <Yahoo37849@ecrostech.com> wrote:
> --- In AVR-Chat@yahoogroups.com, "brewski922" <Brewskister@...> wrote:
>
>  > ... I don't thank [sic] you could go
>
> > wrong with the STK500, about $80.
>
>  The OP (who has not answered any of our questions and is leaving us to
>  argue among ourselves) wants to get into robotics.  You can't put an
>  STK500 on a robot!  The STK500 has no debug capability.  Why would you
>  advise him to pay $80 for a huge board with no debug capability when
>  for $52 he can get a programmer / debugger that works with all the
>  latest chips from Atmel, including debugWIRE?
>
>
>
>  Graham.
>
>
>
>
>
>  Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>