Looking for Microcontroller Recommendations
in [Design]
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From: Jan Panteltje on 16 Jan 2010 11:41 On a sunny day (Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:53:57 GMT) it happened nico(a)puntnl.niks (Nico Coesel) wrote in <4b51dc9b.583037562(a)news.planet.nl>: >>I have Linux on a Broadcom MIPS, cross compiled from the PC. >>It will *not* run LTSPice in Wine see? > >So, get another spice derivative which does compile/run on MIPS. Well, there are no better Spice then LTSpice >>And you have to re-compile *every* application. > >No, you don't have to recompile every application if you have enough >storage space to install a regular Linux distro. Flash drives are very >cheap these days. If you attach a flash or hard drive to your Broadcom >system then you can install a regular Linux distro on it. You are WRONG. Executable code that runs on a x86 will NOT run on a MIPS. That is a very silly mistake you make here, I hope you do not design embedded. I actually modified the Broadcom system so it HAS an external storage, It runs a backup webserver. http://panteltje.com/panteltje/wap54g/index.html#wapserver Connect to it here: http://81.207.135.196:82/index1.html Even that needed cross compiling. What do you think 'install a Linux distro' means anyways? What code do you think the installer uses? Where does it get the MIPS version of gcc? Linux distros only install binaries, and the source is available optional. If you want to run on an other platform then X86 then you need to compile *all* sources for that. Man, such ignorance! >If you have no storage space, then you'll have to resort to buildroot >or OpenEmbedded. But these basically strip all the unnecessary data >away from an application (like documentation). But that is getting a >thing of the past quickly. Even the use of small C libraries like >uClibc is getting obsolete. Nothing to do with it.
From: krw on 16 Jan 2010 13:46 On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:38:42 -0600, "RogerN" <regor(a)midwest.net> wrote: >Thanks for all the fantastic recommendations! It seems like for many of the >microcontrollers it doesn't cost much to get going at a hobby level. I >ordered a PIC18 something starter kit that comes with a PICkit2 >programmer/debugger and I ordered a PICkit3 Debug Express. >I also have an Atmel STK500 starter kit that I bought around 10 years ago >and have hardly used. I downloaded Arduino software and GNU C compiler for >the AVRs. >I plan to look into the other stuff that I'm not familiar with but sounds >interesting, such as the Texas Instruments, Silabs, Arm, etc. > >At work some of our electricians hacked into alarm clocks to automatically >start their car a few minutes before the end of their shift. They have the >Bulldog security remote starter and said it has an input you can use to >start your car, where we work is too far from the parking lot to use the >remote. That would be a nice microcontroller project, use a temperature >sensor and RTCC, if it's freezing out, start the car so many minutes before >the end of shift, the colder it is, the more warm up time is allowed. Be careful here. It's very easy to burn up a starter, wiring, or at least kill a battery, when you least want a dead battery (BT). Even professionally installed car starters cause enough problems to invalidate car warranties. There is a *lot* to consider here. I certainly wouldn't play with a car starter. I found it easier to move to the South. ;-) >I'm wanting to make some intelligent I/O and operator interface products >that would be compatible with the Basic Stamp but would have a ICSP plug and >perhaps a bootloader so these could be reprogrammed for anything else the >end user wanted. Of course the products being compatible with the Basic >Stamp would work with other microcontrollers and could even be controlled >from a PC. > >Thanks again! > >RogerN >
From: Nico Coesel on 16 Jan 2010 14:02 Spehro Pefhany <speffSNIP(a)interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote: >On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:35:49 GMT, the renowned nico(a)puntnl.niks (Nico >Coesel) wrote: > >>"RogerN" <regor(a)midwest.net> wrote: >> >>>Thanks for all the fantastic recommendations! It seems like for many of the >>>microcontrollers it doesn't cost much to get going at a hobby level. I >>>ordered a PIC18 something starter kit that comes with a PICkit2 >>>programmer/debugger and I ordered a PICkit3 Debug Express. >> >>But be advised: as soon as you think 'I need 2 PICs for this project' >>it is time to dump the PIC and learn to use a completely different >>microcontroller. For more complicated projects using a PIC is like >>eating soup with chopsticks. PIC gets you started real fast but it >>also runs out of air real fast. > >What applications have you had to implement where a 40-80 MHz 32-bit >MIPS processor with 512M of flash is so woefully inadequate? That is not a PIC. That is a PIC32! A whole different beast. If you like your sanity, I wouldn't program those in assembly though (google 'MIPS one delay slot'). -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico(a)nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
From: Nico Coesel on 16 Jan 2010 14:20 Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealmtje(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >On a sunny day (Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:53:57 GMT) it happened nico(a)puntnl.niks >(Nico Coesel) wrote in <4b51dc9b.583037562(a)news.planet.nl>: > >>>I have Linux on a Broadcom MIPS, cross compiled from the PC. >>>It will *not* run LTSPice in Wine see? >> >>So, get another spice derivative which does compile/run on MIPS. > >Well, there are no better Spice then LTSpice Except for the crappy user interface. >>>And you have to re-compile *every* application. >> >>No, you don't have to recompile every application if you have enough >>storage space to install a regular Linux distro. Flash drives are very >>cheap these days. If you attach a flash or hard drive to your Broadcom >>system then you can install a regular Linux distro on it. > >You are WRONG. >Executable code that runs on a x86 will NOT run on a MIPS. >That is a very silly mistake you make here, I hope you do not design embedded. You are even more silly to suspect that I propose to run x86 code on a MIPS platform. I'd install the MIPS version ofcourse! Or the ARM version. >What do you think 'install a Linux distro' means anyways? >What code do you think the installer uses? The code that is used on your platform. >Where does it get the MIPS version of gcc? >Linux distros only install binaries, and the source is available optional. >If you want to run on an other platform then X86 then you need to compile *all* sources for that. No! You are so terribly wrong here! Look at this page: http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/ Scroll down on this page and you'll see you can choose a Linux installer for 11 different platforms. Each installer will put Debian Linux on your system (if you choose the right platform for your system). Several years ago I had an SGI Indy (MIPS based). Debian worked fine out of the box. -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico(a)nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
From: Falk Willberg on 16 Jan 2010 14:36
RogerN wrote: .... > That would be a nice microcontroller project, use a temperature > sensor and RTCC, if it's freezing out, start the car so many minutes before > the end of shift, the colder it is, the more warm up time is allowed. Are you really going to waste 50% gas by blowing warm air (and harmful gases) out of the exhaust, torture the engine by running it cold and idle for minutes? Why not use an auxiliary heater and control this with a micro? That would be a smart approach. Falk |