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I somewhat felt in love with those inexpensive kit that companies sometimes ships. Often referred as "evaluation kits", you often get an ready-to-go package that contain at least an board and something to program it.
--TheBrave 19 mai 2008 à 07:29 (UTC) This page was highlighted in Hack-A-Day and contain another ones I didn't know about so I'm including it here.
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Micro controllers (µC)
MSP430 (Texas Instruments)
- ez430-2013 $20 (Very small, low power µC) [Debugger | C Compiler]
The first one from Texas Instrument. Was the smallest to date (and shipped in a DVD case), was very cheap and came with all you needed. The hardware part of the kit has the size of an USB memory key and contain both an USB debugger and an minuscule target board which only contain the micro controller and a led. It is also possible to buy another board. (3 for $10) The data sheet confirms that the programmer can be used to program other members of the MSP family.
- ez430-RF2500 $50 (Quite small, wireless capabilities, 2 targets) [Debugger | C Compiler]
This one seems fun. For a mere $50 you get 2 wireless boards, an USB programmer/debugger/power supply and an battery holder. Fantastic value, I was not very enthusiast about that one but I really like the IDE shipped, the msp430 Yahoo Group is very friendly ans I can think mow of some wireless widgets. The programmer is of the same kind as of the one in the 2013 kit but also contain an serial port. I think this one can also be thought as a beefier replacement of the 2013.
- ez430-RF2480 $50 (Quite small, wireless capabilities, 3 targets) [Debugger | C Compiler]
Also very small, this one is very like the RF2500 except that it use an different chip for the wireless (Standard Zigbee vs. Proprietary define your own stack wireless for the RF2500) . The baseband chip is a network processor that embeds the whole Zibgee stack so the main chip doesn't have to dedicate as much ressources.
AVR 8 bit (Atmel)
Made by Atmel, the AVR 8 bit took on the Microchip PIC chips by providing an cheaper, easier to program alternative. Atmel helped the Open Source community to target GCC for ther processors. So you get an free ans unlimited C compiler at the cost of setting everything yourself. One drawback of these kit is that provided hardware doesn't include an debugger but Opensource designs are floating on Internet ans eBay. One the other hand, the officials ones begin somewhere between $100-$150. Their board maybe aren't the more interesting but their chips are cheap, powerful and very easy to find/source.
- Butterfly
That one vas very popular a few years ago. For me that one is not the most attractive, but that easy to wear badge with a small screen buttons, buzzer, and temperature/light sensor. And it is cheap. You program it with a serial interface (it is preprogrammed with and bootloader you hope not to overwrite) and you can solder headers to get an ISP/JTAG port if needed.
- Butterfly2: RZRAVEN (2 targets, 1 emitter)
Just looked at it briefly, it's like the Butterfly but with these wireless chips that seems to use Zigbee. Still no JTAG provided, you'll have to solder your own but the device should be able (grim) to update via the wireless.
- AT90USB
Very small board with Flash chips, mini joystick, 2 leds. The chip seems very capable and has USB host and slave capabilities. For the price, this one is a deal.
Cortex M3 ARM Core (Luminary Micro)
- Ethernet Eval Board (ref)
Very fast processor, pretty OLED display, full speed Ethernet port, buttons, USB serial port, buttons, integrated USB JTAG with pass through capabilities, and plenty of easy to use GPIO ports. It is cheap, and very difficult to resist. Alternate versions exists, among them, as I don't have any use for an CAN port, the smallest one with its narrow OLED screen is also very interesting.
ST
- the cheap one
Well, I don't thing I will buy that one, bus as it's the cheapest, I will include it. (And putting it will also enable me to find it later) Well... Cheap and very small (they provide you an lens to see it) but I dont think it is versatile/powerfull enough for the hobbyist.
- STM32 Primer $40 (Powerful, color screen, low power µC) [Debugger | C Compiler]
That one is a funny target that look like a little portable video game console. (More like an tamagotchi) There is two USB ports, one wired to the CPU, the other wired to the JTAG emulator.
- 128x128 Color LCD screen
- Little buzer
- 3-axis accelerometer
- Rechargeable battery
Embedded Linux Boards
- AVR Network Gateway
At $69, this one is the cheapest Linux-powered board I've found.
- Omnia Embedded controller €24 (MIPS32, 16MB RAM, 2 MB Flash)
See the article on LinuxDevices for more information. Great deal even if you will have to buy some extras (AC adapter, Case, Toolchain...)