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Embedded and Microcontrollers
Embedded Forum Choosing a Microcontroller Brand
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Related

Choosing a Microcontroller Brand

screamingtiger
screamingtiger over 10 years ago


I understand that choosing a specific microcrontroller/processor/SOC depends on the requirements and what I am doing etc..

 

I've started a couple discussions but this one is at a critical time, I just used up my last 2 ardunio minis so I need to order a new stash.   I am considering moving away from them and to something more advanced, even if it is just using AVRs directly.

 

This question however is more about choosing a general brand of micro controllers.  In my opinion, for me, I don't have time to learn all of them.  I don't have time or $ to invest in IDEs for different platforms nor do I want a slew of them installed on my PC.

 

So help clear my ignorance here.

 

I am looking AVR, they have a wide range of products.  So does ARM.

 

If I were to say "I only want to use ARM" would I benefit from the following:

-A wide range of products from low power consumption (<100mA) all the way up to full multi core processors ( I can build small embedded projects and then go bigger if needed without having to switch brands)

 

-If I learn the assembler for one ARM product, moving to another ARM product will not result in as steep of a learning curve as the register names, instruction pnuemonics  and paradigm will be similar (subsets).

 

I could as the same question about sticking with AMTEL or PIC (microchip)

 

Does it make sense what I am trying to do?  I just want to cut down the cross system learning curves and stick with a specific set of chips that are very similar in terms of programming.

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Top Replies

  • michaelkellett
    michaelkellett over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger +4
    I really like the ST Nucleo boards - programmer/debugger built in, dead cheap (£7.67 for CortexM4) and quite small. MK
  • DAB
    DAB over 10 years ago +4 verified
    Hi Joey, I appear to be late to the post. I just recently purchased a couple of the Cypress Semi PSOC 4 boards. One I intend to install in my CNC mill and the others for new projects. I chose Cypress because…
  • johnbeetem
    johnbeetem over 10 years ago +2
    There are so many different ARM microcontrollers that it's hard to know what to do. In general, the core itself is pretty much the same so your real question is what on-chip peripherals do you need. Most…
Parents
  • dwinhold
    0 dwinhold over 10 years ago

    One board I always love to use is the Parallax.

     

    www.parallax.com

     

    Dale

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  • screamingtiger
    0 screamingtiger over 10 years ago in reply to dwinhold

    I LOVE the propellor and it is a strong candidate for my consideration.  But the packages are limited.  But they got the basics covered.  We have the mini which is the small version, then there are dev boards.  There is now a Pi HAT as well.

     

    What I love about the prop is the multi core/cog technology.  What kept me away is the requirement to use SPIN or Asm.  Now there is a GCC compiler so after my  projects are complete I am going to experiment.

     

    Do you or anyone know if Arm (or its vendors) offers something similar?  A multicore SOC board that is designed to be used in an embedded system as a realtime device?

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  • crjeder
    0 crjeder over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger

    Have a look at xmos xcore-xau http://www.xmos.com/products/silicon/xcore-xa/xa-series

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  • screamingtiger
    0 screamingtiger over 10 years ago in reply to crjeder

    Whats the smallest board you have used with an Arm.   Anythying around the size of an Arduino Pro Mini?

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  • michaelkellett
    0 michaelkellett over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger

    There is no ARM equivalent of the propeller because there is no point.

     

    Going from the Wiki article  a Propeller can execute about 160M instructions per second - there are single core Cortex M4s that can do nearly 200M, M5 that go faster and soon M7 which will go still faster.  But if you want really fast there are ARM cores that do 1GHz or more and these come1,2,4 or even 8 on a chip.

     

    As crjeder points out above the XMOS parts are a different (but not ARM) approach to multi processing.

     

    But these devices are are very niche (Propeller and XMOS) - great when you need them but mostly you don't !

     

    My solution to speed is FPGAs  - because they do hardware stuff in parallel it's quite common for an FPGA clocked at 100MHz to outperform an I7 at 3GHz -  but only on the stuff it's good at.

     

    MK

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  • crjeder
    0 crjeder over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger

    The adafuit bluetooth le friend, it has the size of a thumb drive. don't know how this compares to a pro mini.

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  • screamingtiger
    0 screamingtiger over 10 years ago in reply to michaelkellett

    Using the Prop is not really about speed.  Its more about the paradigm.  No interrupts, and its like having multiple MCUs that share memory space.

    On my project I have one MCU controller servos, getting commands from I2C.  Then I have another MCU using sensors, sending data via I2C.

    Each MCU is tasked pretty hard is why I have it split.

     

    But with the Prop, I can assign each function to 1 core with not communications protocol needed since the COGs can share memory.  image

     

    Its just a need chip.  Perhaps it is not the "go to" chip for everything and maybe I should spend time learning it to supplement whatever platform I choose.

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  • michaelkellett
    0 michaelkellett over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger

    I really like the ST Nucleo boards - programmer/debugger built in, dead cheap (£7.67 for CortexM4) and quite small.

     

    MK

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  • michaelkellett
    0 michaelkellett over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger

    I really like the ST Nucleo boards - programmer/debugger built in, dead cheap (£7.67 for CortexM4) and quite small.

     

    MK

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  • screamingtiger
    0 screamingtiger over 10 years ago in reply to michaelkellett

    Got a link to the model you like to use?

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  • michaelkellett
    0 michaelkellett over 10 years ago in reply to screamingtiger

    You really need to choose the one that fits your purpose best:

    I think this one has the fastest processor:

     

    image

    Click to zoom

    Image is for illustrative purposes only. Please refer to product description.

    STMICROELECTRONICS

    • Manufacturer: STMICROELECTRONICS
    • Order Code: 2433469
    • Manufacturer Part No  NUCLEO-F411RENUCLEO-F411RE
    •  

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