Zilog Z8 Encore! controller for my robot

[meratz]

I am new to robotics. I have been reading this forum and learning a lot. I have noticed that a good number of hobbiest comment on how money is tight for their hobby. Zilog chips are a good alternative to the pics and basic stamps. The downside, as I have learned, is that their is not anywhere near the programming examples as there is for the two other chips. If money is an issue, around $45 for everthing you need, and time is not, then I would head over to the Zilog site and give them a look. I had to learn pretty much from the ground up on how to program it. I don't work for Zilog. I just wanted to pass along some information that I thought a cheap, I mean frugal , robot hobbiest would find hopefully useful.

 

[Sceadwian]

You can get started with either PIC's or AVR's for the cost of the chip and you can home built a parallel port programmer for less than 15 dollars in parts. Branded serial programmers start in the 20 dollar range and the entire development kit I bought for my AVR's was only 75 dollars, and it came with two of their larger / full featured chips.

 

[penoy_balut]

Z8 Encore Development Kit aside from being affordable also includes free C compiler.

 

[Leftyretro]

For lowest cost of entry, I've found nothing that matches a Picaxe. For around $14 + shipping one can get the 8 pin microchip, a small protoboard and a serial cable. The basic language and windows based development software suit is free for downloading.

Not the best solution for all applications (what is?) but for learning and getting started there can hardly be a easier and cheaper way.

Not affiliated, just a customer

**broken link removed**

Lefty

 

[William At MyBlueRoom]

And the PIC18f also offer a free C18 compiler.