Help getting into microcontrollers

[Daravon]

I'm at the DIY point where I'm wanting to do things that are impractical to do with simple analog circuits. I want a microcontroller, and whatever programming paraphenalia I need to be able to program it.

I want to be able to do things like get analog inputs from phototransistors or pots, and translate that to numbers that I can do math on and display on a LCD panel. I want to do things like run small electric motors and simple buzzers and so on. I want to be able to have a human interface that can be programmed with simple button/menu system. This is for my various hobbies such as cameras and paintball guns and so on.

I have no idea what kind of microcontroller I want, I only know that I would like a flexible one that has an onboard ADC (more than 8 bits) preferably and a PWM output built-in. And I need to be able to program it. Can anyone tell me what kind of microcontroller to buy and what I need to program it?

 

[ALiteZ]

Take a look at parallax.com. I used the basic stamp way back. They are pretty flexible (from simple to complex applications). Good luck.

 

[LED_astray]

You should checkout the Programmable Hotwire Driver thread:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2803333

They aren't doing all the things you mention, but I think going through the posts describing their development steps & tradeoffs is a wonderful example of what you can do with simple controllers and many of the techniques. They pretty much cover everything you need to do development with the AVR controllers.

 

[JHM]

An excellent place to start would be with an Arduino (arduino.cc)

It is a recent addition to hobby electronics and is a completely self-contained platform. It is based on the ATMEGA168 chip (recent versions)and has 6 ADC inpututs, 14 digital I/O pins (6 of wich are pwm-able) an onboard voltage regulator, and it programs with a standard usb cable.

Programming is done in the arduino environment, using a programming language that is (relatively) easy to understand (similar to c or java), and there are tons of code examples for everything from blinking lights to communicating with LCD displays and driving motors, as well as a basic introductory course that I found very helpful.

Boards are available through many sources as the design is open-source, there are also many different flavours of arduino hardware (check out the hardware tab at arduino.cc)

I have had nothing but success with this platform, i've used it to drive servos, automate fish tanks, control RGB lighting according to sensor inputs, replace car dash lights with rgb leds, basic sound synthesis, model rocket launch controllers, etc, etc, and I cant say enough good things about it.

It also has a ICSP (in circuit serial programming) header if you get really advanced.

Good luck and have fun

 

[Superlux]

if you want to control something from your computer like relays analog I/O and digital I/O check out labjack. http://labjack.com/

they can do just about anything. i was at a semitruck testing facility and they used them to measure all kinds of custom sensors and data.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Sparkfun.com is a neat hobbyist site that specializes in microcontrollers and peripherals. You can buy the parts and bare boards or you can get preassembled units, and there are links to plenty of cool DIY projects there. They have good prices and fast shipping.