More
seriously, the setup for microcontrollers should be pretty
simple.
Most of the modern ones seem to have an in-system-programming
interface,
normally similar to SPI. That can be bit-banged over the lines of a
parallel port.
Hmm. No machines with parallel ports here, except for classic
ones. I suppose I could use a 5150..
I said 'can be bit-banged ove the lines of a parallel port' not 'nust be
bit-banged...' :-). I've seen devices that connect to a USB port at one
end and to a microcotnroller at the other (the one I saw was for PICs,
and not surpisinging it contained a PIC and not much else..) I am sure
such things exist for most microcontrollers.
As an aside, I miss the 'user ports' that existed on some 1980s home
computers (Commodore and the BBC micro being the obvious ones). It's a
lot harder to play around with simple interfacing and control projects now.
As regards the
actual hardware. as I said, you can hand-wire the
microcontroller, clock crystal, HPIB buffers, etc on a bit of
square-pad
board in an hour or so.
Very true. It seems that many people think development boards are
"ready made microcontroller boards". I can't tell you how many
development boards I've seen mounted in permanent, application-
specific chassis. That kind of idiocy makes me ill.
Me too. It really annoys me when I see a development board kludged into
an applciation where it doesn't really fit. It would be a lot less effort
(and money) to design the darn thing properly in the first place.
-tony