Microcontrollers

[Nick1911]

I'd like to start programming microcontrollers.  It seems like it'd be really useful for a number of my projects.  I've kind of settled on using an Atmel AT89C2051, because it's not very expensive, has enough I/O pins, and has a UART built in.

I pretty much want to get set up to program and use that chip specifically.  Anyone have any idea where to start?  Any good books?  Are there any programmers that can be had for less then $30?  Any good tutorials on writing code for it?

Thanks!
-Nick

[richyoung]

Microcontrollers?  Linear acuators?  "5 pounds of pull"?  "Nick1911"?!?!?

Admit it - you are a cyborg from the future, sent here to win the IPSC championship.....

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

You've come to the right place.  Atmel micros are my specialty!   

I prefer the Mega8, Mega16, and Mega162 uC's, because they tend to have the best combination of built in peripherals, memory space, IO ports, and so forth for my needs.  They aren't significantly more expensive than any of the other chips.  But if the other chips satisfy your requirements I'm sure they'll work great.

A decent (not great, not bad) textbook is "Embedded C Programming and the Atmel AVR" by Barnett, Cox and O'Cull.  It's written around the AtMega16.  It shows you how to use all of the internal peripherals, which tend to work the same for all Atmel AVR uCs.

You can build your own programming cable by hacking up a parrallel printer cable and connecting it to the uC's SPI port.  See here:
http://online.sfsu.edu/~meholden/Microcontrollers/avr_cable.html
and here:
http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/ecet/courses/referencematerial/atmel/

I use the CodeVisionAVR compiler/IDE for writing the software.  There's a free evaluation version available here:
http://www.hpinfotech.ro/html/download.htm


That should get you started.  Lemme know if you have any questions.  Odds are good that I've had the same question at some point, so I can probably help you find the answer.