OT:microcontroller programming

[ethrbunny]

Are there any microcontroller boards / chipsets that accept programming via USB? Id like to try working with these but don't want to sink the $$ into a dedicated programming board / station.

[niftydog]

Are there any microcontroller boards / chipsets that accept programming via USB?

yes, many.

Id like to try working with these but don't want to sink the $$ into a dedicated programming board / station.

Uh... but the USB solution is likely to be as expensive if not more than the serial port type.

You can build a reasonably simple serial programming board for some of the PIC micros (equiped with ICSP In Circuit Serial Programming). And, if you're willing to make a single chip specific programmer, the parallel programming circuit is not really that complex either.

Or, you might wish to cut your teeth on the PICAXE series of micros. Very simple and cheap, the serial programmer consists of two resistors.

[Gilles C]

Last week-end, I came back from a 4 week training on ucontrollers. We used 68HC908GP32 btw.

Anyway, I couldn't use my laptop to program the ucontroller the teacher had because... I didn't have a serial port.  

So this week, I began wiring a breadboard as the one we used for the training. And I bought a USB2Serial converter.

This is the cheaper one I found locally.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=531841

I saw another one at $14.95us elsewhere on the web if you're not on a rush.

Gilles.

[Hal]

http://www.sparkfun.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cart=169377&cat=1&

seriel PIC programmers for $13 - I need to place my order  :twisted:

I'm also just getting into microcontrollers.  I got a book from a library that was really good, afaik :-D.  I learned a lot more from it than from the 'net.