From: "Bruce D. Wedding" 

Roger said:

> Cool... So this is a cousin to the Z80 processor?  I know the Z80 has
> (had) a following among programmers.  They are still a popular item on
> ebay.

Yep, just a Z80 on steroids, the latest and greatest.

> This kit seems to have adequate features to do some interesting things.
> What exactly is an evaluation kit for?

Just what it says really.  They usually come with a prototyping area on the
board that brings out all the peripherals so you can tie in your hardware,
add a few chips or sensors or switches, whatever you need to do.  They
allow you to determine if the chip is suitable for your project.  They also
interface with the development environment for development and debugging
easily.  Once you build your system, it may not be suitable for debugging
in situ.

> OK, now this one looks very interesting.  I'm wondering how practical it
> would be to code in assembler rather than C to get around the 2K limit.
> What do you think?  I have minimal knowledge of x86 assembler.  Am I
> looking at a great deal of self-inflected pain?  Would I be missing out
> on cool C libraries?  Do I need to have my medication increased again?

I'm a C programmer and avoid assembly at all cost.  There are tons of
microcontroller devices out there with assembler though.  If you care to
learn it go for it but personally, I like C.  The compiler vendor will
usually have some processor specific header files that map in all the IO
and peripherals for you making it very easy to use.  If you're creative,
you can do a lot with 2k.

> I'm going to spend some time researching on that site... There seems to
> be a lot of information there.

Most of the manufacturers sites have links to example code and application
notes.  I learn so much by reading the app notes.  The good sites have an
app note showing how to use every major feature of the chip.

--- BBBS/LiI v4.01 Flag-5