Sign in
Search avrclub
Subscribe to avrclub
avrclub by Keywords
AT90S2313 | AT90S8515 | ATMega | ATmega128 | ECL | FETS | IAR | Keyboard | LCD | STK50 | TMOS | UART
Ads
Discussion Groups
Discussion Groups | AVRclub | Re: Starter kits
Atmel AVR Microcontroller discussion group.
Starter kits - Brandon Tolbert - Mar 29 22:36:00 2004
Just joined up and I am glad to find a group like this. I have an interest in Atmel
microcontrollers and would like to know if you guys think a good start point would be to
acquire an STK500 and one of the Mavric II boards with the MEGA128. My goal is to simply
teach myself how to program and understand microcontrollers. Any advice would be
appreciated. -Brandon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
Starter kits - Brandon Tolbert - Mar 29 22:37:00 2004
Just joined up and I am glad to find a group like this. I have an interest in Atmel
microcontrollers and would like to know if you guys think a good start point would be to
acquire an STK500 and one of the Mavric II boards with the MEGA128. My goal is to simply
teach myself how to program and understand microcontrollers. Any advice would be
appreciated. -Brandon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
Starter kits - Brandon Tolbert - Mar 29 22:39:00 2004
Just joined up and I am glad to find a group like this. I have an interest in Atmel
microcontrollers and would like to know if you guys think a good start point would be to
acquire an STK500 and one of the Mavric II boards with the MEGA128. My goal is to simply
teach myself how to program and understand microcontrollers. Any advice would be
appreciated. -Brandon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
Re: Starter kits - Patrick Timlin - Apr 1 13:49:00 2004
--- "Brandon Tolbert" wrote:
> I have an interest in Atmel microcontrollers and would like to know
> if you guys think a good start point would be to acquire an STK500
> and one of the Mavric II boards with the MEGA128. My goal is to
> simply teach myself how to program and understand microcontrollers.
Hi Brandon,
Yes the STK500 is an excellent board to start off with and is very
easy to be up and running in no time at all. It supports a large
number of the AVR line directly (built in sockets) and indirectly (as
you pointed out, carrier boards with the mega128 for example).
As to buying the Mavric II board to get the mega128, sure if you want
to. But if your goal is to simply learn microcontrollers in general
and the AVR ones specifically, then really you don't have to buy
anything else but the STK500. The STK500 will come with at least one
AVR (installed in a socket with a test program in it) and usually the
STK500 kits comes with at least one other "sample" AVR. So you will
have one microcontroller with the kit for sure and likely two of
them. I am not sure exactly which ones they are shipping with the
STK500 these days.
Anyway, with the included AVRs that come with the STK500, that should
give you plenty of silicon to start off with and start learning. At
least initially. It would probably be a while before you felt you
outgrew the included AVRs if you are just starting out and by the
time you did, you would probably be expert enough to really know what
ICs you want to start working on, which may or may not be the mega128.
So my suggestion is get the STK500, hold off on the Mavric board
initially, and see how it goes. You can always pick up the Mavric
board later if you want it, but if you find the STKs included AVRs
are enough, you can save yourself a bit of money.
Patrick
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
> I have an interest in Atmel microcontrollers and would like to know
> if you guys think a good start point would be to acquire an STK500
> and one of the Mavric II boards with the MEGA128. My goal is to
> simply teach myself how to program and understand microcontrollers.
Hi Brandon,
Yes the STK500 is an excellent board to start off with and is very
easy to be up and running in no time at all. It supports a large
number of the AVR line directly (built in sockets) and indirectly (as
you pointed out, carrier boards with the mega128 for example).
As to buying the Mavric II board to get the mega128, sure if you want
to. But if your goal is to simply learn microcontrollers in general
and the AVR ones specifically, then really you don't have to buy
anything else but the STK500. The STK500 will come with at least one
AVR (installed in a socket with a test program in it) and usually the
STK500 kits comes with at least one other "sample" AVR. So you will
have one microcontroller with the kit for sure and likely two of
them. I am not sure exactly which ones they are shipping with the
STK500 these days.
Anyway, with the included AVRs that come with the STK500, that should
give you plenty of silicon to start off with and start learning. At
least initially. It would probably be a while before you felt you
outgrew the included AVRs if you are just starting out and by the
time you did, you would probably be expert enough to really know what
ICs you want to start working on, which may or may not be the mega128.
So my suggestion is get the STK500, hold off on the Mavric board
initially, and see how it goes. You can always pick up the Mavric
board later if you want it, but if you find the STKs included AVRs
are enough, you can save yourself a bit of money.
Patrick
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
Re: Starter kits - Graham Davies - Apr 21 13:45:00 2004
--- In avrclub@avrc..., "Patrick Timlin" <ptimlin@y...> wrote:
> ... the STK500 is an excellent
> board to start off with ...
I'm just starting out with the AVR too, so 'scuse me butting in on
this thread. I bought an STK500, STK501 and two ATmega64s from
DigiKey. I've worked with the ZiLOG Z8 Encore! for more than a year
but have got fed up with compiler defects and other ZiLOG stupidity.
I've been using 68 pin Z8 Encore!s with 64 Kbytes of Flash so this is
why I went for the STK501 and ATmega64.
> The STK500 will come with at
> least one AVR ... and usually
> ... at least one other ...
My STK500 had an AT90S8515-8PC installed and an ATMEGA16-16PC as a
sample. Both are 40-pin DIP. The STK501 came with an ATMEGA128-16AC.
> So my suggestion is get the STK500 ...
Seems like good advice unless, like me, you've got used to bigger
MCUs with more memory. However, to get started you also need a set of
development tools. This is where I got a surprise.
AVR Studio is described by Atmel as an Integrated Development
Environment and I expected that in conjuction with the STKs I would
be all set. However, unless I'm missing something, there is no C
compiler and no means of debugging actual hardware. It seems I need
to go out and spend more money on a C compiler (or struggle with GCC)
and also on another piece of hardware such as JTAGICE. Is this right?
Is there really no compiler in AVR Studio? Is there really no means
of debugging a program on the hardware without more dongles?
Graham.
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )
> ... the STK500 is an excellent
> board to start off with ...
I'm just starting out with the AVR too, so 'scuse me butting in on
this thread. I bought an STK500, STK501 and two ATmega64s from
DigiKey. I've worked with the ZiLOG Z8 Encore! for more than a year
but have got fed up with compiler defects and other ZiLOG stupidity.
I've been using 68 pin Z8 Encore!s with 64 Kbytes of Flash so this is
why I went for the STK501 and ATmega64.
> The STK500 will come with at
> least one AVR ... and usually
> ... at least one other ...
My STK500 had an AT90S8515-8PC installed and an ATMEGA16-16PC as a
sample. Both are 40-pin DIP. The STK501 came with an ATMEGA128-16AC.
> So my suggestion is get the STK500 ...
Seems like good advice unless, like me, you've got used to bigger
MCUs with more memory. However, to get started you also need a set of
development tools. This is where I got a surprise.
AVR Studio is described by Atmel as an Integrated Development
Environment and I expected that in conjuction with the STKs I would
be all set. However, unless I'm missing something, there is no C
compiler and no means of debugging actual hardware. It seems I need
to go out and spend more money on a C compiler (or struggle with GCC)
and also on another piece of hardware such as JTAGICE. Is this right?
Is there really no compiler in AVR Studio? Is there really no means
of debugging a program on the hardware without more dongles?
Graham.
(You need to be a member of avrclub -- send a blank email to avrclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )