Microcontrollers are popular components. Elektor has published lots of circuits that implement a microcontroller. Most of the time the ‘micro’ used is either a PIC from Microchip or an AVR from Atmel, although we do see the occasional odd one like an MSP430 from TI or an HC12 from Freescale. Microchip and Atmel were the first to launch cheap and small microcontrollers, supported by cheap tools, so it’s understandable that they have grown a large user base.
However, many other manufacturers have entered the arena since. A free GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) tool chain exists for MSP430 (mspgcc), if you search hard enough you can find something similar for the HC(S)12, and most manufacturers offer free tools (although the size of the executable is often limited) and cheap evaluation boards. The free SDCC compiler targets the 8051, it’s available from almost any chip maker, but also other processors like the ones from Maxim.
Every day new people are getting into microcontrollers (or should we say “embedded”?) and they have to choose their platform. Their choice is very probably influenced by the information and examples they’re able to find on the Internet that have direct relevance for their project. Once a platform is chosen, people tend to stick to it. Still there are people who do more than just stick to their platform — they become aficionados of the microcontroller family they once chose and they will use it for everything.
This leads us to the question: are you particularly fond of a certain microcontroller? If you are, can you explain why? Are you a PIC lover or an AVR adept? Or are there any particular reasons for you not to use a certain microcontroller? Please let us know!
Send your response to elektorembedded@gmail.com or post it on our new blog elektorembedded.blogspot.com dedicated to microcontrollers and embedded systems.
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