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I'm a first year Computer Science student looking to get started with development for micro-controllers. I'd like to use the 8051, as it's common as dirt, and is used frequently in the real world.

During my junior or senior year, I'll be taking a PIC micro-controller based embedded design class, so I'd rather not do PIC now; otherwise, I'll be fairly bored during that course.

Most commercial kits I see are for the AVR or PIC series of microprocessors. I'm just looking for something with decent development tools, documentation, and enough add-ons to keep my novice self occupied for the summer.

Any recommendations for an 8051 family kit? Thanks!

Eng.Fouad
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LucidDefender
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    Why is this tagged avr and pic? – Sparr May 28 '10 at 19:00
  • This question was [reposted at chiphacker.com](http://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/2722), but an edit to the question specifies that the advice of [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2876361/8051-microcontroller-kit-recommendation/2887003#2887003) was followed. – jschmier Mar 27 '11 at 04:35

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Check out the MCUniversity ToolStick development kit from Silicon Labs:

http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/MCUniversity.aspx

Disclaimer: I work for Silicon Labs.

The kit and documentation are designed for people who are new to the 8051 and microcontrollers in general.

svec
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  • I ended up going with the MCUniversity kit, as per your recommendation. The documentation and coursework looks very well suited for someone at my level. Thanks! – LucidDefender May 23 '10 at 23:38
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I asked pretty much the same question on a microcontroller forum. The original post is here. The recommendation is for the F340DK from silabs.com. I was looking at silabs because I had heard they had good kits. This runs about $70-$100 depending on where you get it.

Codezy
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  • Those kits look pretty nice. What other components would you recommend buying as well? Are there any project guides? Thanks. – LucidDefender May 21 '10 at 00:26
  • I'm not sure, that is as far as I have gotten being a total newbie as well. I was just going to buy it and see what I could do with the basic kit and then assess what else I would need. The silabs kits were recommended by a person who makes hardware for iPhones. – Codezy May 21 '10 at 14:28
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Mikroelektronika make some pretty cool boards...
Pretty feature-packed. Been using the PIC flavour and I love it.

The MikroC IDE is good, board has plenty of addons and features
What else could you need :D

Check out their 8051 devboard here http://www.mikroe.com/eng/products/view/329/easy8051-v6-development-system/

Pav
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