Choosing a Microcontroller Brand

Question

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.

DAB · Accepted Answer

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 I love their development environment and their board handles a wide range of different component voltages, plus it includes programmable digital and analog hardware devises.

For my money, these board give you the most options to explore new applications and plenty of options to make your own devices as needed without doing your own PCB circuits.

The TI Launchpad set also provides a good solid development environment and a wide range of boards aimed at specific application domains.

Either of these solutions will provide you with plenty of capability for a small price.

DAB

Jan Cumps · Answer

Both Texas Instruments (Hercules LaunchPad Series) and Silicon Labs (Gecko series) have very very cheap ARM dev boards, with free development tool licenses. I use dev boards and software stack of both companies. They're great.

johnbeetem · Answer

These two Cypress PSoC boards are very nice and very cheap. The programmer part can be snapped off, leaving a DIP board. PSoC4 with ARM Cortex-M0, US$4: http://www.cypress.com/?rID=92146 PSoC5LP with ARM Cortex-M3, US$10: http://www.cypress.com/?rID=108038 These are amazing chips, with programmable digital and analog peripherals. Unfortunately, there's no open-source software and you have to run on Windows. I wish silicon companies would stick to silicon

Choosing a Microcontroller Brand

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