ATMega8535 Educational Board

[bytter]

Heya there,

I'm a Software Engineer and I've done some microprocessor programming some years ago back at the University. Though, at that time, I didn't bothered to learn the details. We had a development board and all we needed was to program them, and place some leds and stuff.

But now I want to start developing some hacks. The first project I was into was to develop a simple temperature logger, than when connected to the PC, it would send the data log.

I was looking for something integrated so I could learn one step at a time. I have no problems programming in assembly, given the language specification. Though if it accepts C, then better I've downloaded the Atmel IDE and Emulator, and found it very easy.

So I was thinking about buying an ATMega8535 Educational Board (**broken link removed**. Maybe it would do the task, maybe it is an overkill. Since I want to log temperature for up to 3 days, 1Kb of memory would be enough. I would also need an integrated A/D. It seems the atmega8535 is able to handle this task.

Still, it's 40€ (I live in Portugal so I have to order). While I think it is cheap, and I know basic electrical handling (using ao ion soldering and stuff), probably I will make some mistakes and just burn out stuff... What do you guys recomend? A chepear micro? A simpler board? The materials must not be very esoteric or I would not be able to find them here. Some url's with stores that sell to Europe would help.

I've also read several posts sugesting PICs instead of AVR... Do you think it would be cheaper/easier to get those for the application I've mentioned?

Thanks in advance,

Hugo Ferreira

P.S.: I will keep searching the forum for answers, but I thank those who choose to help me directly When we are a beginner, we tend to make lots of mistakes, especially when there is *SO* much information available...

 

[BeeBop]

Hi, how come you say

Still, it's 40€

The price on futurlec's site is only $29. Are you counting duty, postage, etc?

That board is overkill for what you want to do for the first project, but it will keep you busy with a lot of other things. I'm guessing you want to get started doing microcontrollers, and need some hardware to play with. I think it is a good board, and the cheaper AT90s2313 is also very nice.

I found PICs easiser to start with, but I don't think it really matters, just pick one and go. Once you have some confidence, then try out some other choices, and you will find out what you like best.

Another good place to look for boards is www.SparkFun.com. They sell the Olimex boards, which are (IMO) better built than futurlecs boards, but perhaps just a bit more cash for the features. Also, Olimex is in Bulgaria, I think, so close to you. I believe you can just use www.Olimex.com

For the project you want to do, you could just build your own board, but it is much better when starting out, to use 'known working hardware.' That way, you can just debug your firmware, and once that is working, venture into your own board. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that it is nice to have a board around to play on, and once you figure out your circuit, then build that, and make something else on your development board.

Hope this is of some help, but this morning I feel like I have no command of words!
Regards

 

[eblc1388]

Please also consider the STK500 starter kit board.

Besides using it to try out AVRs, one can also use it to perform HV programming to "rescue" AVRs with messed up configuration fuses or those AVRs that have the Reset pin assigned to I/O function and thus normal ISP don't work anymore.

A really good investment indeed.

Edited: I don't have one but would like to have one.