Re: cheapest microcontroller for a noob with high level programming language skills?

snarkyFish wrote:
I'm relatively new to electronic projects as a whole, but i've got the
basics down. I'm a computer geek with lots of higher level languages
under my belt, but i've never messed with stuff such as assembly. I
could easily handle c or basic though.

I'm itching to start tinkering with a microcontroller. If money were
not a problem, i'd probably pick up a kit similar to what parallax
offers:
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=27807
as it seems like a good 'noob's how to'

Of course, money is a problem. I was wondering if i could get some
advice on getting started with a simple / cheap microcontroller system.
Are there any out there that would let me program in basic (or
something similar) and could be programmed and run easily with the chip
on a breadboard and a serial port?

it seems like there's a continuum: cheap and hard to learn <==>
expensive and easy to learn
is that true?

This question is starting to run long.. sorry. I'd like a basic
microcontroller, with good reference materials on the net that can get
me started. I'd like to just breadboard simple experiments and
projects at 5v.

Any advice?

You might check out the PIC microcontrollers. You can get a cheap
device such as 16F628 with 2k of program ROM and 250 bytes of RAM and
two 8 bit I/O ports for about $3. There are 3rd party basic compilers,
but it's pretty easy to use in assembly. There are only 35 instructions
and some are the same as in Basic of GOTO, CALL, ect. The development
software (in assembly) is free from Microchip.com and you can build a
programmer to load the compiled HEX file into the device with just a
few parts.

For a tutorial, you might check this link:

http://www.mstracey.btinternet.co.uk/pictutorial/picmain.htm

-Bill

.

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