My apologies, I'm aware that I double posted, but I didn't know exactly which section my post belonged to, and I didn't want to miss out on a helpful reply such as yours just because I didn't post where I should have/could have.
Well it just makes it more difficult for both yourself, and those trying to help you. It is all past now, though.
Fair enough, well I have around 28 weeks left to complete this project, and I get ~5 hours of time to complete the project per week, so that comes to a total of 140 hours. Do you think this is enough time?
I hope you don't mind at least 1:1 homework to allotted time. Probably, once you get going, you will become obsessed and put in even more time. It is interesting work.
That said, I think this is doable in the six or so months you have to finish it.
If you have the time, could you please direct me to some of these forums? I've managed to find a few through Google, but I'm sure there would be some that I'm not finding due to searching for the wrong thing or something like that.
Well these are the ones I frequent, but others may (hopefully) add to this.
SparkFun Electronics :: Index
PIC, AVR, Phillips and Atmel ARM, Board Design, etc. Also a good place to ask about GSM modems! Be sure to look around their main site and find the tutorials.
ah, here is a link:
SparkFun Electronics - Tutorials
The next is compiler specific, but I find it very useful, in a lot of other ways:
CCS :: Index
Should you decide on AVR, this is the place to get help:
**broken link removed**
My choice of compiler ($70 for the full deal, best price around, and a great compiler to boot):
**broken link removed**
Last, but certainly not least is Microchip forums.
**broken link removed**
The PIC list is also very useful:
**broken link removed**
These are quite PIC biased, but that is the one I'm using these days.
Could you please give me a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of these micro controllers?
Thanks, that would be great.
Well, the only problem you may have starting with AVRs is that if you configure it incorrectly, it can lock up. Very frustrating problem if you are a newbie. They are fast, and made to be programmed in C. WinAVR - a C and assembly development environment - is a free download. To use it, you have to snuggle up with gcc and make.
PICs have what is known as Harvard Architecture - that is a separate program and data memory space and at first the bank switching on the 12xx and 16xx can be tough to get used to.
Harvard architecture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There is a free Integrated development environment, MPLab, here:
**broken link removed**
I haven't covered the Arduino,
Arduino - HomePage or
USB Bit Wacker