Re: AVR Butterfly (was Re: Beginner needs help...)

My first motion control project, and first real microcontroller project was
a 2 axis system. H Bridges, motors, A/D converters, gears, the works.

It can't hurt to plunge in as deep as you care to. For the record , the
second was a single axis, then I went on to a three axis, four axis, and
five axis, and a bunch of multi-axis wierdos. For the record, FORTH was in
all but two of them.

The easiest of them had the bigger micros in them. There is nothing more
fustrating than coding in assembly to get the speed you need. There is
nothing more painful than cutting functionality to save room.

The big mistakes beginners make is not recognizing what is simple and what
is complex. A big scary 16 bit micro may look bigger and scarier than a Pic
or an 8 bit AVR, but personally I would rather do what I need with a 16 or
32 bit micro that is seemingly more difficult, than have to operate in a
tiny little 8 bit box...

The most important thing is having a roadmap to follow. If you can start in
with good examples, you are nearly guaranteed success.

Sure, starting in on an 8 bit micro can't hurt, but never be afraid to throw
everything out and start over, it is often the fastest path.


"MrMJPEG" <mrmjpeg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1133967337.681540.82460@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I rarely throw away old PC's, but I do cannibalize them. SO I have a
> PII/300 & Athlon 866 collecting dust in my basement.
>
> I like the AVR/Butterfly suggestion. AVR vs. PIC reminds me of the old
> Amiga vs. PC argument of 15 years ago. One is clearly superior but the
> other is in wider use. Although this time I don't see the AVR
> disappearing.
>
> The motion control discussion by blueeyedpop is WAY over my head at
> this point. But thanks! I just mentioned it to show where I want to
> end up. That's YEARS away. I know there are all sorts of
> considerations I didn't mention like counterweights, regidity, encoding
> (do you need encoders to find a home position with geared stepper
> motors?) along with memory and joystick interfacing.
>
> Here's roughly how I'd like to progress
> -Blinking LED / Thermometer / LCD driver
> -Servo control
> -Stepper control
> -Single Geared stepper controling a platform upon which a camera will
> be mounted. Program determines movement. Verify accuracy of multiple
> runs.
> -Potentiometer control added.
> -Add ability to save data to internal memory (if possible) and repeat
> recorded moves.
>
> I expect just the above to last a year or so. Then there'd be
> recording to external memory. After that, adding muliple axis. Maybe
> networking.
>
> Thanks for all the help! It is comforting knowing there are
> knowledgable people out there to help. But, I'd REALLY like to know,
> what the heck IS a bootloader?
>


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