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Choosing a Microcontroller Brand

screamingtiger


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.

  • 0 in reply to balearicdynamics

    Enrico Miglino wrote:

     

    I see that these devices costs from 4$ up to 10$. But I see also that the programmer is sold at 87 Euro on Farnell site. Is this mandatory or there are other ways to program these devices?

    You can program them over USB, using the part of the board that snaps off.  I think this uses a bootloader that's pre-programmed into the PSoC.  If you manage to erase the bootloader, then you need another programmer to restore it over SWD ("single" wire debug).

     

    I think the USB programmer can only do programming.  It can't do debug: you need a separate SWD device for that.

  • 0 in reply to johnbeetem

    I've been looking at these, and there is a webinar on the main page about the newest version being released.  I am strongly considering buying over the arduino pro mini but not sure if the PSoC4 supports I2C or not.  Maybe in software only?  The PSo5 DOES!

    I've been trying to get someone to tell me they perform better than a AVR 328P and I cannot find the current draw at full load.  They talk about how to measure it but don't mention it.

  • 0

    This should not be about "which on is better",  I am ok with PIC, AVR, or ARM.  I am just wanting to pick on set, and stick with them.  I do not wish to continue with Arduino because I feel it misleads me and after a while short of getting start, it actually promotes ignorance.  This is like Visual Basic, while it is useful you are losing so much and end up being ignorant of the things that matter in the end.

     

    I dealt with a Pic32 recently and it has its own personality, and it has some quirks with I2C.  I resolved it and learned but iv I move to ARM, I may have to relearn things and also solve new problems.  I want to avoid this overhead and become proficient, even at the assembly level, one of set of chips.  I want to have a range to pick from, and as long as there is a big enough chip to work with OR a breakout board, I can live with it.  If all they sell is a small SMD chip I may not be able to use it, that would defeat the purpose.

     

    I am really leaning towards ARM but I like how PIC and AVR sell DIP versions of the chips where I can use ZIF sockets.  NOt the smallest but easy to work with!

  • 0 in reply to screamingtiger
    I do not wish to continue with Arduino because I feel it misleads me and after a while short of getting start, it actually promotes ignorance.

     

    First of all I think that you have perfectly focused the point with this sentence. We have already discussed about time ago and this is the better definition I have read until now.

     

    Then, what I tried to write above about the problem os very small chip and so on, is just what you saying: what I mean is that if by one side it is great to use high performance devices, I tend too to prefer to work with components that I can really manage in projects and circuits and at the actual date in a global scenario the dip devices remain the ones that I can really manage in a better way. I recognise that this maybe a handicap, but untile there are projects that needs micro controllers and are simpmle or don't need super speeds nor micro dimensions this choice remain the better choice at all.

     

    In a global view, Joey, I remain of the idea that it is better for you to focus the attention on some different options to make a set of scalable choices depending on the project complexity.

     

    Instead what remain obscure to me, more than the need to use different IDE (but it is not so in many cases with different processors), is the cost of the firmware flashing / programming tools respect the micro controllers themselves, as in the example I posted above where PSoC cost 4$ while I see that the programmer costs 90$ instead. This is also another detail that can address through a solution instead of another.

     

    Enrico

  • 0 in reply to johnbeetem

    Cheap ARM Cortex M* boards could be found by every manufaturer. For NXP there are the LPCXpresso Nordic semi offers a dev, too and there is the https://www.adafruit.com/products/2267

    , stm discovery and nucleo, energy micro gecko, mbed, Freescale Freedom, Infineon XMC 2Go ... a lot of choices. A quick search turned up more than 100 different boards for under $30.

    My choice is Nordic Semi nRF if I need bluetooth and PSOC 4 for everything else.

  • 0 in reply to screamingtiger

    from the Datasheet:

     

    Serial Communication Blocks (SCB)

    The PSoC 4200M has four SCBs, which can each implement an I2C, UART, or SPI interface.

    So the answer should be "Yes". These blocks are programmable hardware. I2C is implemented in hardware.

  • 0 in reply to johnbeetem

    The Pioneer boards (~ $20) also include a debugger.

  • 0 in reply to johnbeetem

    John,

     

    the programmer question IMHO is not secondary. First because Joey seems having in ming to move a step ahead than the simple put the code on the bootloader. In the original view the idea of the bootloader was to pre-program applicative specific micro controllers that - only for some parts - can be updated OTG Then in the hobbyist world this became a sort of "must" But if you want really get good performances from a micro you should be able to program - really - it. This means a programmer and this is what makes the difference, I think. Not last the fact that a bootloader consumes precious memory in many cases.

     

    AVR can be programmed with MKII that is about 35Euro.

    PSoC - I am not sure if the bootloader is preloaded on the device as in the datasheet I see that it is possible to create bootloadable applications, they mention the USB (beakable part) only as a useful way to communicate to the PSoC from a PC but they show the bootloadable application as for example only, not suggested to use if as a standard (due the resources consuming).

    Nordic (I am a registered developer with them due some clients work I mentioned above) support also more expansive dev kits at a similar-highr price. Their cheap boards also inclused a JTag but it is for debugging only.

    NXP (also from them I followed their products development and received periodically sample chips) had development boards starting from 50$ up to a lot image

     

    Ten in this scenario you should also consider that while boards like PSoC these other processors are really great but are not so general purpose as they seems. I try to explain the processor itself IS general purpose but in the scenario of an already developed well tailored project where the processor should fit for some specific reasons and application.

    The real - and probably only - advantage that made Arduino for first and the generation of similar board, AVR-based or not, that made the success was their possibility to be applied as a small "microcontroller motherboards" in real projects at a real low price. If things are so - and this is my impression - many of the great devices should be excluded, unfortunately, untile the producer does not discover the great market of the independent makers, hobbyists and so on as a profitable market.

     

    Enrico

  • 0 in reply to balearicdynamics

    J-Link EDU costs ~ 50 €. It is a jtag programmer / debugger you can use for almost all MCUs. So this is an investment which lasts for long even if you decide to switch from one vendor to an other and even if you decide to work with an other architecture.

     

    8.08.90 J-LINK EDU - SEGGER - EMULATOR, J-LINK EDU | Deutschland