Re: microcontroller programming -- how to begin

Ken Smith schrieb:
In article <4479e421$0$4493$9b4e6d93@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Andreas Schwarz <usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ken Smith schrieb:
In article <GO%dg.86923$Jk3.78060@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
mc <look@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[...]

More to the point... What are the DISadvantages of AVR compared to other
architectures?

The only real ones are that AVRs are a single makers product and that
there is less free stuff out there for it.
On the contrary, most of the free 8051 stuff is very old

You mean tried and true, well proven don't you.

I mean abandoned.

and of limited
value,

A free macro assembler is very far from "of limited value".

A free macro assembler is no big deal, you can get one for any
microcontroller family in the world. It's different when it comes to C
compilers. For 8051 there is only SDCC, but it's not as good as the free
compilers you can get for AVR, MSP430, Z8 or ARM. I have yet to see a
free IDE for source level simulation/debugging of SDCC code.

What kind of free software is available for 8051 that isn't for AVR?

whereas for AVR there is a free, actively developed C compiler
(AVR-GCC)

"actively developed" is a very strange turn of phrase. Do you mean that
they are still working on it (ie: trying to remove the bugs)

I should have written "actively maintained".
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Moving from 8051 to AVR
    ... This applies to working with the AVR just ... Yes, that was the original argument - although it has now been slightly sidetracked by your claim as to *why* it is good, which was that it means any old PC programmer can then write good embedded code for the chip. ... IAR have plenty of knowledge of C compilers, but they have their own particular way of handling microcontroller functionality that has no place in standard C, such as handling flash memory spaces. ...
    (comp.arch.embedded)
  • Re: C programming on ARM
    ... You can't rely on these things having a consistent pointer size - you should not even rely on the C requirement of a "void *" supporting them all (embedded compilers don't always follow the standards if they conflict with generating good object code for real-world source code). ... Look at the AVR, for example - it has different address spaces for flash and ram data, so the pointers are incompatible. ...
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  • Re: Beginning PICs
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  • Re: C programming on ARM
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  • Re: Purchase microcontroller dev. kit
    ... char b; ... Even on compilers which don't support it directly, the way to deal with code like that is clearly explained in user manuals and FAQs. ... The two most sensible families of small microcontroller for beginners or general use are the AVR and the msp430. ... Nothing you write now will be reused significantly in the future, and all embedded code has at least some layers of non-portable code anyway. ...
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