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New to the Group

Former Member

Hi

I just joined.

and I received a Starter kit. I am trying to find out if it has any value (to me)

I wanted to get started in PIC programming (learning) and I came across this kit   -  Atmel At89/90 Series microcontroller Starter Kit   -   P/N #MCU00100

This still a viable kit?

Or is it so old that it is a better paper weight?

I noticed that it uses Windows 95 (really old) or Windows NT  (don't know where I could get a copy of that)

It came with a bunch of other things that I could use, so no great loss if it is no longer supported, but looks cool and interesting

Thanks for the help

 

Bud

  • 0

    Hello bud1992

    Welcome to the element14 Community, we hope you enjoy it! I will move this over to the Single-Board Computers area as it is a better fit.

     

    Thank you,

     

    Jamie

  • 0

    Hi Bud,

     

    It is old, but you could probably still find the latest software for it on Atmel's site (it is not a PIC, but an AVR device).

    No need to use the software disc that you have, that should really be discarded now : )

    It really depends on how much support you need to get going - there are more resources for more modern boards. For beginners, the

    Arduino may be more suitable because of the wealth of material for beginners. The Arduino uses an Atmel device too,

    and comes with a simple-to-use development environment.

  • 0 in reply to shabaz

    Thank you for moving it to the correct location.

    Thank you for telling me what I have. ( I really did not know)

    I received it with a Arduino R3 starter kit.

    At first I thought it was just some more of the Arduino, then noticed it did not quite look right.

    Hopefully I will be able to use both and learn to understand both.

    Oh, one other question, what is the difference between AVR and PIC.

     

    Again 'Thanks'

     

    Bud

  • 0

    Hi Bud,

     

    There is no difference at birds-eye view, they both are micro-controllers, and both can be used for similar tasks usually.

    Just in the specifics (architecture, features) they differ, but there are lots of resources on the web highlighting differences.

    If you're a beginner then just use the device for which there are most resources/tutorials - and that will be the Arduino, the

    AT89/90 starter kit will have fewer relevant resources, which won't help you as a beginner until you're confident

    exploring it without the wealth of tutorials that exist for the Arduino.