Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: cstrockb@cs.sunysb.edu (Caleb Strockbine)
Subject: Miniboard or Motorola eval board?
Message-ID: <CSTROCKB.92Nov2194659@csws6.cs.sunysb.edu>
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Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1992 00:46:59 GMT
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I'm a student interested in experimenting with the Motorola 68HC11.
I've been reading this group for a while, and have learned quite a 
lot from all of you... thanks!

Anyway, there seem to be two good options for learning the 68HC11:
	- the much talked about Miniboard 2.0
	- the not-so-much talked about eval board from Motorola

Is one of these a clear winner over the other for someone in a 
learning/experimenting mode?

Also, I haven't heard much about using the 68HC11 with a Macintosh.
Are there 68HC11 compilers available (or easily portable) for the
Mac? If not, I suppose I could use SoftPC to use PC programs, but
I'd like to avoid that if better alternatives are available.

The cost for the eval kit is $68.11 from Motorola. I think it's still
available at that price, but I'm not sure. Includes manuals and some
PC software, I think. 

What's the approximate cost of building a Miniboard? Also, since it
seems that I'll have to put the Miniboard together myself, I'd like 
to know how difficult it is to build. I'm not uncomfortable with
a soldering iron, but I'm also less than expert. Will this be a major
problem?

Finally, I'm ultimately interested in using the 68HC11 in designs for
Macintosh peripherals. Am I wrong to think that this is a nice chip
to use for ADB and serial devices? Is it overkill?

Thanks very much for any help you can provide.

Caleb Strockbine
cstrockb@ic.sunysb.edu

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