XAVIEN Technologies

Microcontroller Links & INFO.

Microcontrollers(MCUs) are major players in todays "Embedded Market". There are literally dozens of MCU manufacturers on the market. I myself have concentrated, but not limited to, 3 specific families of Microcontrollers. They are the Microchip "PIC", CYGNAL "C8051FXXX", and the MOTOROLA "HC12" line of MCUs. Each one has it's own good and bad qualities. I started programming MPUs/MCUs on INTEL's 8086 and Motorola's 6800. The "PIC" is my preferred MCU of choice for lower and middle end applications. Overall, all 3 are unique in their own way.The "PIC" has all sorts of resources available to ease the development process. I have also started to look into TI's MSP430 family of MCU's, they look promising!!! Soon I will be adding information/links about the MSP430. I will also be adding various infomation about other microcontrollers. Such as the 68HC12 family by Motorola and more info on the ever growing SX family from UBICOM. Also, I hope to be adding a few projects in the next few months. I also decided against developing with the ATMEL "AVR" because my representative was basically being a "dick". Recently I have encountered two MCUs that interest me very much! They are SSTIs 8051 variant and XEMICS MCU. After looking into them, I beleive the SSTI MCU to be a solid design choice. XEMICS on the other hand is a swiss company without the fabs, availability is questionable in my opinion. School, work, and my son have been keeping me "VERY" busy, but I wouldn't want it any other way! ;-)

MISC. Links
ZiLOG
Rabbit Semiconductor (Improved Z80 Core)
Fairchild Semiconductor ("ACE" MCU)
Wilke Technology("Basic Tiger")
Triscend (VERY Cool!)
CYPRESS Microsystems (PSoC Homepage)

Microchip "PIC" Links

In my opinion the PIC is one of the top MCU's on the market. They have so many different families of devices each with it's own characteristic that it's hard not to like them. In my opinion, their development tools (PICStart Plus) is one of the best on the market. Overall, they are my favorite line of MCU's. I anticipate the release of the new PIC18FXXX family of microcontrollers. The PIC16F877 is also a great device.

The Manufacturer

MICROCHIP

PIC Book Authors

PIC Development Products

DONTRONICS

WIRZ Electronics

Scott Edwards Electronics, INC.

Embedded Microsystems

RF Solutions

Misc. PIC Links

PIC List

Fast Forward Engineering

eg³

16C71 Project Page

Andrew Errington's Page

David Tait's Page

Alboni Giorgio's Page

Scott Datallo's Page

Peter Anderson's Page

Brian's PIC Page

Microchip Net Resources

Eagleye's Web Page

Alberto Ricci Bitti's Web Page

P.H.Anderson's Web Page ****GREAT!!!*****

MOTOROLA "HC11" Links

The "HC11" family is one of the most well known MCU families around. To be honest, I started looking into the "HC11" because a few of the engineers at my work started designing products using them. Since I am still a technician I needed to understand everything about our products. After spending the 4th of July weekend reading the "M68HC11 REFERENCE MANUAL" and the "M68HC11-E SeriesTechnical Data" I could see why they swear by them. They are very versatile and the bootload option is great for a production environment.

The Manufacturer

MOTOROLA Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS)

"HC11" Development Products

PMB Electronics

AXIOM Manufacturing

MITs "Handy Board"

FABIUS Software Systems

HVWTECH

OZ Technics

MISC. "HC11" Links

Programmers Heaven (Freeware/Shareware for the HC11)

68HC11 Webring Homepage

Brandon's HC11 Page

Frank Henriquez "HC11" Page

Tom Dickens "HC11" Page (GREAT!!)

Scenix "SX" Links

The SX family consists of two MCU's. An 18 pin and a 28 pin model respectively. There were two things about the SX that caught my eye. One, their instructions are a superset of the PIC16C5X families with "Flash" and a few extra instructions. The second thing that caught my eye was there speed! At 100MHz (100MIPS) they have no competitor in a comparable device. For now they are a baby line of MCU's, new in design and use. Although, if they get all the bugs worked out of the hardware/software design and release a SX with a larger amount of memory (>8K)..........lookout world here they come!!

The Manufacturer

SCENIX

SX Development Products

MISC. SX Links

Chuck Glenn's SX Page(free-ware Assemble & Simulator)

ATMEL "AVR" Links

ATMEL makes a very good product. Overall the AVR performs very nicely. It has some features that would be of great importance in certain situations. The AVR family is a good solid design choice. You can even buy programmers for prototyping VERY cheaply from ATMEL,WIRZ Electronics, or DONTRONICS.

The Manufacturer

ATMEL

AVR Development Products

DONTRONICS-AVR Page

WIRZ Electronics-AVR Page

Jerry Meng's Programmer

MISC. AVR Links

ATMEL Resources List

Texas Instruments MCU Links

TI actually makes a pretty good MCU product line. I have found them to be reliable and overall easy to understand and program. The MSP430 has a software interface that is Window's based. The software comes with an assembler, simulator, and editer (full package). Like many other MCU companies, they have made it possible to download their software for free. Even better, you can either download the user's manual or request a hard copy (printed) over the "net" and they will mail it to you. The MSP430 is a mixed-signal microcontroller. TI has designed a low cost (US$99.00) intoductory development kit that works very nicely. There are only a handful of third party tools on the market as of today (01-30-99), but they continually grow. Overall, I have not spent as much time as I would like to learn TI's MCU family. But what I do know, I like very much!

The Manufacturer

Texas Instruments

TI MCU Direct Links

TMS370 Info.

MSP430 Info.

MISC. TI Links

DR.Krohn & Stiller (Emulators)

IAR Systems (C-Compilers)

SMS (Programmers)

hitex Development Tools (Emulators)

BasicX Microcontroller Info.

I first discovered this chip in an add in "Circuit Cellar Ink". After going to their website and reading about the "BasicX" MCU, I was very interested! It seems that this chip would be great for doing projects. My biggest problem is the price of the MCU, other than that, it looks great!!! I am considering buying the starter kit to experiment with but I am still unsure if I want to venture into yet another project (so many things I want to learn, so VERY little time!!). Apparently the BasicX is a ATMEL MCU with a basic interpreter.

The Manufacturer

BasicX Microctroller

steevn.geo@yahoo.com
Page last updated:09/10/02
Page operating since 08/24/98

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