[time-nuts] Follow-up question re: microcontroller families

bownes bownes at gmail.com
Sun May 26 17:42:46 UTC 2013


For making a blinking LEDs, it is hard to beat a 74LS74. However, a PIC, is probably less expensive! :)

On May 26, 2013, at 13:33, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:

> Hi
> 
> If you head over to the auction sites and do a bit of creative digging / bidding, the Arduino clones are amazingly cheap. They easily beat the $12 or so Freescale and TI demo boards by a wide margin cost wise. Bang for the buck wise, indeed the demo boards win out. For blinking a LED, running out of horsepower isn't a major concern with any of them. 
> 
> Bob
> 
> On May 26, 2013, at 1:19 PM, Chris Albertson <albertson.chris at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> A fan controller (8-pin DIP package) is simple enough to build on perf
>> board.  But mostly I agree that it is best to buy these on PCBs.  You can
>> use them right out of the box.   I do have an Arduino and it's advantage is
>> that you can build very fast.   I had a device that measured the resistance
>> across a pot and displayed the value on a 2x16 LCD working about 40 minutes
>> after I got the Arduino un-boxed.  It is easy and fast.   But they cost a
>> few $$
>> 
>> A cheaper alternative I think I like is TI's "launchpads"  They come on
>> little credit card sized PCBs and the concept of very much the same as
>> Arduino.  TI sells several.  One is a $13 ARM Cortex M4.  It is a complete
>> development system.  The other is a MSP430 version for $10.  But with the
>> MSP versionyou can remove the uP after it is programmer if you like, or
>> leave it on the board.   These prices include shipping.  $13 is good pice
>> for an ARM on a breakout board.
>> 
>> They also sell an assortment of  "booster boards" that plug in and provide
>> all kinds of interfaces, pretty much the same concept as Arduino "shields"
>> 
>> More info here:
>> /launchpad/overview_head.html<http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/overview_head.html>
>> 
>> On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 9:18 AM, Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>> On 5/26/13 9:00 AM, Chris Albertson wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> But for many applications, the inevitable overhead
>>>>> (power, heat, external components, OS, etc) simply
>>>>> eliminates the gain of having a better/faster CPU.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sometimes I end up using a 6 or 8 pin PIC with only
>>>>> a few lines of code to to solve complex problems where
>>>>> a (F)PGA/CPLD design would be a lot of work and a
>>>>> 16/32bit microcontroller simply overkill.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> As it turns out there are a LOT more simple jobs than there are
>>>> complex jobs.  This is why they make and sel a lot motr 8-t
>>>> controllers than they sell 32-bit controllers.
>>>> 
>>>> For example I want to control the cooling fan for a rubidium
>>>> oscillator's heat sink.   I only need three pins, 1) the temperature
>>>> sensor, 2) Fan tachometer pulse, fan voltage.  A $1 "tiny AVR" 8-pin
>>>> chip can handle this just fine and we are talking about 20 lines of
>>>> code maybe after the pins are set up.  Using an ARM and running an OS
>>>> would be silly overkill.
>>> 
>>> The other thing is packaging and peripherals..not to mention development
>>> time.  It might be more "cost effective" (where cost is some complex
>>> conglomeration of your time and money) to always use the same part, even
>> if
>>> overkill.
>>> 
>>> Some people are happy to layout a new PCB, get it fabbed (or make it
>>> themselves) or deadbug it.  Others might want a board with terminal
>> strips.
>>> Or you might want something that you have a box for or maybe you like
>>> mounting it inside.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I think everyone has their favorites, and most folks tend to have
>> relatively
>>> few candidates at any given time (it's difficult to switch among various
>>> processors on a day to day basis).  Right now, I tend to use Matlab on PCs
>>> for big things, with some python.  For smaller needs, I've been using lots
>>> of Arduino Uno R3s and Teensy3s, because of the packaging.  Both using the
>>> Arduino semi-C tool chain and also the non-arduino compilers.  (having a
>> USB
>>> boot loader, etc, does make life easier).
>>> 
>>> I've used PICs and Rabbits in the not too recent past, but the Rabbits
>> don't
>>> have as nice a development environment, and there's no equivalent of the
>> $20
>>> Arduino, nor the plethora of cheap interfaces to things like relays and
>> what
>>> not.
>>> 
>>> I haven't looked much at whether a low cost PIC on a board with
>> peripherals
>>> is available. They've always been a "build a circuit" either with
>> perfboard,
>>> deadbug, or small PCB, and that makes it take a few more hours or days.
>>> 
>>> For the "I want to finish the project this weekend starting Saturday
>>> afternoon", the whole arduino world is pretty convenient, at least as far
>> as
>>> getting the hardware put together and a first load of software running.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> Chris Albertson
>> Redondo Beach, California
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> 
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