From: "Roger Scudder" 

On Thursday, May 06, 2004 at 10:04 PM Bruce D. Wedding wrote:

> I hear you.  If you want a nice package that is easy to get started
with, try the zilog
> Encore series. You can get a full blown C compiler and development
board for $39 from
> Digikey.  Buy that and you'll be flashing the LED in 15 minutes.  In
the embedded world,
> this is the equivalent to hello world.  This is a really nice package
to experiment
> with.

>
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?KeywordSearch?keywords
=Z8F08200100KIT&site=us

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.

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

> Or for a bit more bang for your buck, get the MSP430 kit from TI.  It
is $99 but if you
> enter this coupon code "CMPFT430" you can get it for 1/2 price.  The
compiler that comes
> with this one is limited to 2k code size and
> you will spend at least $300 to get an unlimited compiler.   Here is
the
> link:

>
http://www.ti-estore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code
=MSP-FET430P440

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

Anyhow, thanks for the links and for the discount code! I may actually get this one.

Roger

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