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I was prompted to put this FAQ together in response to my own
frustration in searching for information, and to the constant
occurrence of requests for information on this subject in various
newsgroups. Hopefully others won't need to go through what I did.
Normally, I spend all day programming in assembler on an IBM PC.
With my hobbyist hat on I decided to try my hand at a little
microcontroller project design. When it came time to start, I had no
idea what to do. I had nothing to start with - no assembler, no
programming language, no simulator. I cobbled together a simulator
to help me learn about the workings of the chip. It's not being made
available to the public since I'm afraid the simulator isn't very
good. It was for my own use, so the user interface (there is none)
really sucks eggs.
I decided to search the net for information on the 8051. This list
was compiled the hard way, logging onto every anonymous ftp site I
could find and looking around. I also used Archie, other FAQs and
lists, and every reference to the 8051 that appeared in the various
news groups. It took a long time till stuff finally started popping
up. I saved all of my notes and the result was the first version of
this FAQ. Responses have been poured in, and the result is a much
more complete and thorough FAQ.
I please ask that if you have any suggestions or additions, or you
would like to correct any of the information contained herein, please
send me a note.
My Email address is: russ@silicom.co.il
My Snail-Mail address is:
Russ Hersch
HaVradim 11
Ginot Shomron
ISRAEL
The list of individuals who have sent suggestions and encouragement
has finally overflowed. I hope it suffices to say "Thank you to all
who have contributed to this FAQ - we all appreciate it."
Special thanks to recent contributors:
Jan Axelson
Richard Barnett
Clive Smith
Norm Tyler
Dave Dunfield (Dunfield Development Systems)
Robert W. Tyrakowski (Lauterbach Datentechnik GmbH)
Monika Wyatt (Franklin Software)
Dave Baldwin (The Computer Journal)
Graham Moss (Applied Digital Research)
Marc Petremann
Clyde Smith-Stubbs (Hi-Tech Software)
Peter John Robinson
Ruth Ann Howden (Techneering/Pseudocorp)
Dwayne Sinclair
Helen Emery (Rigel Corporation)
Andy Burgess
Jeff Yeastedt
Alistair George
I hope that those of you who know of interesting items for the 8051
will share with everyone by contributing to this list. A good amount
of stuff is turning up thanks to everyone's help.
If you are a manufacturer and have an anonymous ftp site or BBS
available that supports the 8051, please let me know by EMail so that
I can add it to this FAQ. Also, please feel free to update me on new
products.
This FAQ will be posted to the following newsgroups:
comp.sys.intel
comp.realtime
comp.robotics
comp.lang.forth
sci.electronics
These newsgroups often contain discussions, announcements, or
information on the 8051. Check them out from time to time.
The schedule for posting will be once a month. I can't promise that
it will be on time, but I hope to post it on the 26th of each month.
You might also want to check out the following newsgroups, since they
quite frequently have discussions about the 8051 and other
microcontrollers:
comp.arch.embedded
alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt
alt.tcj (newsgroup for The Computer Journal)
A bit farther afield, but still of possible interest:
comp.lang.misc
comp.ai.fuzzy
comp.dsp
sci.engr.control
sci.engr.semiconductors
I am putting no restrictions on the use of this FAQ except - It must
be distributed in its entirety with the copyright notice, and no
financial gain may be realized from it. After all, I have spent, and
continue to spend, a lot of time on this. The only thing that I
intend to gain from it is more information on the 8051, and getting
to know my fellow 8051 groupies better.
For this reason I have appended a copyright statement to the end of
this FAQ. I feel pretty silly doing this, but I just want to protect
myself. The copyright does not limit the use of this list for
noncommercial purposes. I hereby give my permission to one and all
to pass this list around and post it wherever you want - as long as
it is not for financial gain.
Thank you.
If anyone wishes to start a FAQ on another microcontroller, please
feel free to copy the format of this FAQ - I don't intend on
copyrighting the look and feel ;-). With a common format, we will
all benefit when trying to find information on a particular
microcontroller.
Other Microcontroller FAQs
Subject: PIC microcontrollers
Newsgroups: comp.realtime
comp.robotics
sci.electronics
Maintainer: Tom Kellett
Email: Tom@takdsign.demon.co.uk
Subject: 68hc11 microcontrollers
Newsgroups: comp.realtime
comp.robotics
sci.electronics
Archive: rtfm.mit.edu :
/pub/usenet/comp.answers/microcontroller-faq/68hc11
/pub/usenet/sci.answers/microcontroller-faq/68hc11
/pub/usenet/news.answers/microcontroller-faq/68hc11
Maintainer: Robert Boys - Ontario, Canada
Email: r.boys@genie.geis.com
Russ Hersch (maintainer emeritus)
Subject: Microcontroller primer and FAQ
Newsgroups: comp.sys.intel
comp.arch.embedded
comp.robotics
sci.electronics
alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt
Archive: rtfm.mit.edu :
/pub/usenet/comp.answers/microcontroller-faq/primer
/pub/usenet/sci.answers/microcontroller-faq/primer
/pub/usenet/news.answers/microcontroller-faq/primer
Maintainer: Russ Hersch
Email: russ@silicom.co.il
Additional FAQs of interest
Subject: I2C protocol
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
alt.hardware.homebuilt
comp.robotics
comp.protocols.misc.
Comments: The I2C bus is a simple 2 wire serial interface
developed by Philips. A number of 8051 variants as
well as several peripherals include I2C support.
Maintainer: Vincent Himpe
Email: Vincent.Himpe@ping.be
Subject: Robotics
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Maintainer: Kevin Dowling
(412)268-8830
Email: nivek@ri.cmu.edu
Smail: Carnegie Mellon University
The Robotics Institute
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Subject: Electronics
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Comments: There are a number of FAQs available in this newsgroup
on various subjects. Among some of the subjects covered
are: LCDs, stepper motors, etc.
FAQ subject: Real-time
Newsgroups: comp.realtime, comp.answers, news.answers
Archive: rtfm.mit.edu : pub/usenet/comp.realtime
Maintainer: Mark Linimon
Lonesome Dove Computing Services
Roanoke, Virginia
Email: linimon@nominil.lonesome.com.
Subject: Motorola 68K microprocessor line
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Comments: without a doubt, one of the finest FAQs ever written
(well, of course Bob paid me to say this ;-)
Archive: bode.ee.ualberta.ca : pub/motorola/general
ftp.luth.se : /pub/misc/motorola/faq
file name of archive is m68kfaq?.zip (? is version)
Maintainer: Robert Boys - Ontario, Canada
Email: r.boys@genie.geis.com
For more detailed information on various 8051 microcontroller parts,
see the article posted to comp.robotics and sci.electronics which
provides a tabular cross reference of features and pin counts on a
wide range of microcontrollers (including the 8051 family). This
list was compiled and is being maintained by Roger Nelson
.
For more information on various microcontrollers and their features,
refer to the Microcontroller primer and FAQ listed above.