We generally agree that building our own motor controllers is a bad idea
because there are good commercial products available that handle that need
better than we could build on our own. Why, then, would you build your own
controller computer ? There are tons of embedded controller boards out
there. In my opinion, the most cost effective in terms of hardware,
software, and expandability is a small PC.
Of course, if you enjoy designing and building controller computers, that's
a good enough reason all on its own !
- Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of SteveH
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 9:56 AM
To: R/C Tank Combat
Subject: [TANKS] Re: For those mad scientists on the list
The PICs are very good, and Microchip is a great company to deal with,
but my personal favorite is the Atmel AVR line; programmable in C (avr-
gcc), has on-board EEPROM for parameter storage and in-system-
reprogrammable flash for operating code, and for $8 I can get 12 MIPS
of RISC processor with 32 MB of RAM and 32 I/O lines, with the usual
timers/counters/PWM/etc... Really, no matter whichever microcontroller
line you prefer, they're an incredibly powerful, cost-efficient
embedded platform.
I agree fully with Frank's viewpoint on modular designs, too.
-- Steve H
On Sep 10, 3:16 pm, Frank Pittelli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Aahz wrote:
> > SteveH wrote:
> >> Yaah, I got a Gumstix too. While they're really neat and tiny, the
> >> hardware expandability is problematic
>
> > And that's what stopped me. I'm messing about with Arduino's now.
>
> Real micro-controller developers use PICs for everything (with a healthy
> dose of assembly code thrown in just to prove who's boss).
>
> Three or four of them on a small PCB can yield some truly powerful
> control systems. Modular designs are always better than monolithic
> designs and the PIC is the world leading module when it comes to
> price/adaptability. If you find yourself needing more CPU speed, more
> memory or more ports, just add another chip or two and break the problem
> up. At $1.50 each, with very few external components, why not?
>
> Frank P.
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