True enough, but what does one learn about the basics of the 805x core from using that device?


When starting with a new MCU, that "new ground" has to be plowed up anyway, and I find ASM inherently easier, since it is bound to the core. HLL is a step or two away (depending on which HLL) and when dealing with ASM you deal only with information that you'd have to have under your belt when using 'C' or Pascal, else you'd run into various difficulties almost right away. Do the SiLabs parts all have a completely standard 805x core, including UART and parallel ports on power-up? They certainly require some additional setup if you want to use any of their "features" not that you'd have to do that.

I'm still persuaded that using a 1985 or earlier i8752 would be very easy, though those antiques are quite costly. There'd be no misgivings about whether the features are standard, though.

Hopefully the O/P has taken to reading lots of spec's, and maybe attempting to understand the instruction set and SFR/hardware interactions with it. Once he gets that into his head, he'll be on his way, regardless of which "small" chip he ends up using in his project. The old-standard 5-volt 40-pin DIL-packaged chips are still the easiest to use when learning, methinks.

RE