Hi every one. I've been a fan of this site for a while. I actually do work in the Idustrial Controls industry. Working with Andover Controls product and Johnson Controls products. But im tired of being that far up the logic train. As a hobby i've been looking into programming microcontrollers. just to have fun with little robots, or just do random things. I was planning originally to just get a basic stamp and program that, then i came across these forums and read about AVR chips versus PIC's.
Anyway, long story short, (because work is slow today i have a tendancy to ramble, but i dont want to waste any ones time)
My questions:
I'm trying to start on a path that has a lot of potential. I've been thinking about the ATSTK500 programmer, it looks like it has a lot of options for chip sizes. But i then saw what a user posted about a 60$ PIC programmer. So im torn. So my question is. which line (AVR vs PIC) has the most potential, do either have major advantages? I've noticed that there seem to be a lot more versions and setups of PIC's but then i would need a lot of different programmers, where as the ATSTK seems to have most of the pin sets on the one programmer.
do either perform better under a greater load? or more complex programming?
I'm really leaning towards the ATSTK500, unless someone can show me a good reason not to. my downside is, well like anyone else, we all want to save money and to me it seems like the ATSTK500 will get me set for a while. But with my wife, i think i can only validate one programmer, at least for now. If i bought more then one, or spend too much else wise, i think i'll end up on the floor (she wont send me to the couch, its too comfortable... *darn*)
Anyway, thank you in advanced for your time and advice.
-SWC
Anyway, long story short, (because work is slow today i have a tendancy to ramble, but i dont want to waste any ones time)
My questions:
I'm trying to start on a path that has a lot of potential. I've been thinking about the ATSTK500 programmer, it looks like it has a lot of options for chip sizes. But i then saw what a user posted about a 60$ PIC programmer. So im torn. So my question is. which line (AVR vs PIC) has the most potential, do either have major advantages? I've noticed that there seem to be a lot more versions and setups of PIC's but then i would need a lot of different programmers, where as the ATSTK seems to have most of the pin sets on the one programmer.
do either perform better under a greater load? or more complex programming?
I'm really leaning towards the ATSTK500, unless someone can show me a good reason not to. my downside is, well like anyone else, we all want to save money and to me it seems like the ATSTK500 will get me set for a while. But with my wife, i think i can only validate one programmer, at least for now. If i bought more then one, or spend too much else wise, i think i'll end up on the floor (she wont send me to the couch, its too comfortable... *darn*)
Anyway, thank you in advanced for your time and advice.
-SWC