Hey Everyone,

I am looking for a new 8051 based board to create various projects on. I currently use a hombrew board but I am running out of supplies.

I really like the AVR butterfly because you get a lot of features for about $20, but it is AVR. Does anyone know of a similar sized / priced board for 8051 that I can use? I really don't need any features other than ISP flash. AtoD would be nice, but that can always be implemented on the side.

I would like to support a small project if possible, maybe buy some other homebrewers boards.

Thanks for all suggestions.

- jason

 

You get a quarter million hits using "8051 sbc". Lots of choices here - http://www.allen-systems.com/8051sbc.htm.

 

Hey beenthere,

Thanks for the reply. I checked out the boards you mentioned. They are exactly what I want, but the price is not quite right. The attraction of the AVR Butterfly is the $20 price tag. The boards listed on that site were a minimum of $70 with no features. Feels like a bit of a shafting.

I will follow the google search for about 10 pages and see what turns up.

I'm still hoping someone hops in here and says "Hey, this is what I use and its perfect!"

Thanks for the help,

- jason

 

The boards listed on that site were a minimum of $70 with no features. Feels like a bit of a shafting

Do you know what it would cost to build one of those? I would not say it is "shafting". The folks at Allen Systems are just trying to make a living. The Butterfly is being sold below cost for marketing reasons.

That being said, look at Silabs's $20 usb demo stick.

 

Several development boards are sold below cost to convince young pre-engineers to use their stuff. You should keep such disingenuous or self-serving behaviour in mind and be ready to dump vendors if there are problems.

Allen Systems products are reasonably priced and you get the benefit of a wider range of parts suppliers if you decide to put a product into production.

 

Hey beenthere,

Thanks for the reply. I checked out the boards you mentioned. They are exactly what I want, but the price is not quite right. The attraction of the AVR Butterfly is the $20 price tag. The boards listed on that site were a minimum of $70 with no features. Feels like a bit of a shafting.

I will follow the google search for about 10 pages and see what turns up.

I'm still hoping someone hops in here and says "Hey, this is what I use and its perfect!"

Thanks for the help,

- jason

You would not hold this opinion on the price of boards if you had ever tried to design and manufacture one. We typically use a factor of 2.5 times burdened material cost for our products. A burdened cost of $28.00 gets you a $70.00 quantity one price assuming you can make and sell at least 100 units for that cost.

Now how much in the way of components, board fabrication, and assembly labor do you think $28.00 will buy. The actual answer is -- not very much.

BTW the gross profit of $4200 on 100 units will hardly pay for the layout and engineering required, especially if there is firmware involved.

 

Wow, tough crowd. I guess I've raised some hackles in only a few, short words.

I am a board designer myself, I have developed many products both professionally on green board and as a hobbyist on home brew board. I know what costs are involved. I stand by my opinion, and I assure you it was not disingenuous. Our teaching program which I am involved in regularly puts together entire robot kits including custom boards and chips for $25 in quantities of 100 items. Unfortunately, the college is still stuck in the 68HC11 era or else I would use these boards myself. Granted the engineering time is free (donated by me) but the board fabrication and parts are at standard off the shelf prices. Sure, we have to shop around to get our boards for so cheap (I think we end up paying about $10 / board) but it is worth it for the hungry students. When I say $70 seems a bit high, I have a bit of experience to back it up with.

I will look into the USB Toolstick by Silabs, that sounds like a good solution. I appreciate the help.

- jason

 

Wow, tough crowd. I guess I've raised some hackles in only a few, short words.

I am a board designer myself, I have developed many products both professionally on green board and as a hobbyist on home brew board. I know what costs are involved. I stand by my opinion, and I assure you it was not disingenuous. Our teaching program which I am involved in regularly puts together entire robot kits including custom boards and chips for $25 in quantities of 100 items. Unfortunately, the college is still stuck in the 68HC11 era or else I would use these boards myself. Granted the engineering time is free (donated by me) but the board fabrication and parts are at standard off the shelf prices. Sure, we have to shop around to get our boards for so cheap (I think we end up paying about $10 / board) but it is worth it for the hungry students. When I say $70 seems a bit high, I have a bit of experience to back it up with.

I will look into the USB Toolstick by Silabs, that sounds like a good solution. I appreciate the help.

- jason

What hackles? It was just an obsrvation on your whiney complaint. If you and your students don't like the expense -- take up gardening or Art History. OK. I'll grant you that a kit for $25 is more reasonable than a finished board. Despite your experience as a board designer I see no evidence that you operate as a business capable of supporting yourself and others. Its just a hobby for ya. $4200 is just not enough to be interesting from an economic standpoint, was the point I was trying to make.