A few years ago, Technological Arts launched the NanoCore12 family. Priced lower than the BASIC Stamp® and its clones (that's right-- starting at only US$33), it's the lowest-priced full-featured DIP microcontroller module on the market-- and arguably the best value. Instead of an 8-bit PIC or Atmel chip, it is based on the powerful 16-bit Freescale 9S12 microcontroller. NanoCore12 currently comes in three versions: - the 24-pin drop-in Stamp-replacement (NC12C32)
- the 32-pin Stamp-superset (NC12DXC32) (8 extra pins overhang the end of the standard 24-pin Stamp socket)
- and the 40-pin ultimate Stamp-stomper (NC12MAXC32/128), with on-board CAN transceiver
Overview of Features:
Besides on-board RS232 transceiver, voltage regulator, crystal and PLL support circuitry, all NanoCore12 modules sport a 9S12C32 MCU, loaded with up to 128K Flash, up to 4K RAM, and a rich assortment of advanced on-chip hardware peripherals. Not only is it blazingly fast (24MHz bus) and powerful, but it is a breeze to multi-task for such demanding apps as robotics and real-time control. Assemblers, BASIC, and C compilers are already out there for HC(S)12, so there are lots of tools to work with. With such a small price tag, you'll find all sorts of amazing uses for these little gems. Oh, and did we mention it will work down to 3 Volts? Software Development:
Programming can be done in Assembler, BASIC, C, or Forth-- whatever you're most comfortable with. A free Special Edition of the industry standard CodeWarrior Studio is available from Freescale, and supports up to 32K of C source code, or unlimited assembler. Both Windows and Linux versions are available (see Resources for details).
For educational and hobbyist applications (i.e. non-commercial), the free SBASIC compiler by Karl Lunt is a good choice. While it is a DOS cross-compiler, it is easily used from Windows. Also from Karl Lunt is the free Tiny4th compiler. See Resources for details and URLs. ®BASIC Stamp is a registered trademark of Parallax, Inc.
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Top 10 Reasons to Choose NanoCore12
1. Multiple PWM channels for DC motor control, hobby servo control, and audio output applications
2. Hardware UART (up to 115Kbaud) for fast serial communications (RS232)
3. Hardware timer system (measure pulse widths & generate multiple waveforms simultaneously): ideal for interfacing sonar/IR distance-measuring sensors, R/C servo motors
4. Built-in analog-to-digital converters (8 channels, with 10-bit resolution and 7us sample time for interfacing multiple sensors: temperature, humidity, pressure, light, etc.)
5. Built-in real-time interrupt (easy to implement multi-tasking Operating System kernel)
6. Advanced Complex Instruction Set (CISC) 16-bit CPU
7. Serial Peripheral Interface*(SPI) for easy interface to LCDs, memory cards, MP3 chips, DACs, clock/calendar chips, serial EEPROM, etc.
8. 32K+ program memory (for fast "execute-in-place" program execution)
9. 2K+ user RAM (for variables and data)
10. Programmable in Assembler, BASIC, and C * SPI is not present on 24-pin versions.
NanoCore Modules
NanoCore12C32NanoCore12DXC32NanoCore12MAXC32NanoCore12MAX128
NanoCore12TM is a low-cost platform that brings the advanced features of the 9S12C microcontroller family within easy reach of engineers, students, and hobbyists. The flexible design accommodates all facets of training, evaluation, development, prototyping-- and even volume production.
While there are several DIP-format MCU modules on the market, none of them comes close to the power and value of NanoCore12! Others are based on RISC processors-- some relying on serial program memory, and have limited or no hardware subsystems on-chip. NanoCore12 is the only complete family of DIP modules based on a high-speed CISC device. Since RISC processors only possess primitive instructions, their high speed is necessary, in order to produce acceptable computing power. With a CISC processor running at the same speed, the overall performance is vastly improved-- and performance improvement is in orders of magnitude for certain types of operations. The HCS12 instruction set includes powerful DSP-like instructions, 16-bit arithmetic, and the architecture implements memory-to-memory moves, and many powerful addressing modes. These features are way beyond what any PIC, AVR, or 8051 processor offers today.
Module Features:
based on the 9S12C32 MCU (48-pin LQFP version) includes 8 Mhz crystal 24 MHz bus speed (via PLL) local 5 Volt low-dropout 100 mA regulator includes RS232 transceiver circuit has on-chip Serial Monitor supports standalone operation 32K Bytes Flash 2K Bytes Ram 24-pin DIP form-factor precision gold-plated machined round pins pinout virtually identical to BASICStamp2 ®
Standard Version (# NC12C32): US$37 Buy Direct (low-cost version not available)
NanoCore12DX TM is a low-cost platform that brings the advanced features of the 9S12C microcontroller family within easy reach of engineers, students, and hobbyists. The flexible design accommodates all facets of training, evaluation, development, prototyping-- and even volume production.
While there are several DIP-format MCU modules on the market, none of them comes close to the power and value of NanoCore12! Others are based on RISC processors-- some relying on serial program memory, and have limited or no hardware subsystems on-chip. NanoCore12 is the only complete family of DIP modules based on a high-speed CISC device. Since RISC processors only possess primitive instructions, their high speed is necessary, in order to produce acceptable computing power. With a CISC processor running at the same speed, the overall performance is vastly improved-- and performance improvement is in orders of magnitude for certain types of operations. The HCS12 instruction set includes powerful DSP-like instructions, 16-bit arithmetic, and the architecture implements memory-to-memory moves, and many powerful addressing modes. These features are way beyond what any PIC, AVR, or 8051 processor offers today.
Module Features:
based on the 9S12C32 MCU (48-pin LQFP version) includes 8 Mhz crystal 24 MHz bus speed (via PLL) local 5 Volt low-dropout 100 mA regulator includes RS232 transceiver circuit has on-chip Serial Monitor supports standalone operation 32K Bytes Flash 2K Bytes Ram 32-pin DIP form-factor precision gold-plated machined round pins pinout is super-set of competing 24-pin modules on the market Standard version (# NC12DXC32): US$49 Buy Direct Low-cost version (#NC12DXC32S): US$33 Buy Direct
NanoCore12TM is an ideal low-cost platform that brings the advanced features of the 9S12C microcontroller family within easy reach of engineers, students, and hobbyists. The flexible design accommodates all facets of training, evaluation, development, prototyping-- and even volume production. While there are several DIP-format MCU modules on the market, none of them comes close to the power and value of NanoCore12! Others are based on RISC processors-- some relying on serial program memory, and have limited or no hardware subsystems on-chip. NanoCore12 is the only complete family of DIP modules based on a high-speed CISC device. Since RISC processors only possess primitive instructions, their high speed is necessary, in order to produce acceptable computing power. With a CISC processor running at the same speed, the overall performance is vastly improved-- and performance improvement is in orders of magnitude for certain types of operations. The HCS12 instruction set includes powerful DSP-like instructions, 16-bit arithmetic, and the architecture implements memory-to-memory moves, and many powerful addressing modes. These features are way beyond what any PIC, AVR, or 8051 processor offers today.
NanoCore12MAXC32 Highlights:
based on the 9S12C32 MCU (48-pin LQFP version) includes 8 Mhz crystal 24 MHz bus speed (via PLL) local 5 Volt low-dropout 100 mA regulator includes RS232 transceiver circuit includes CAN transceiver circuit has on-chip Serial Monitor supports standalone operation 32K Bytes Flash 2K Bytes Ram 40-pin DIP form-factor precision gold-plated machined round pins pinout is super-set of competing 24-pin modules on the market Standard Version (#NC12MAXC32): US$53 Buy Direct Low-cost Version (#NC12MAXC32S): US$39 Buy Direct
NanoCore12TM is a low-cost platform that brings the advanced features of the 9S12C microcontroller family within easy reach of engineers, students, and hobbyists. The flexible design accommodates all facets of training, evaluation, development, prototyping-- and even volume production.
While there are several DIP-format MCU modules on the market, none of them comes close to the power and value of NanoCore12! Others are based on RISC processors-- some relying on serial program memory, and have limited or no hardware subsystems on-chip. NanoCore12 is the only complete family of DIP modules based on a high-speed CISC device. Since RISC processors only possess primitive instructions, their high speed is necessary, in order to produce acceptable computing power. With a CISC processor running at the same speed, the overall performance is vastly improved-- and performance improvement is in orders of magnitude for certain types of operations. The HCS12 instruction set includes powerful DSP-like instructions, 16-bit arithmetic, and the architecture implements memory-to-memory moves, and many powerful addressing modes. These features are way beyond what any PIC, AVR, or 8051 processor offers today.
NanoCore12MAXC128 Highlights:
based on the 9S12C128 MCU (48-pin LQFP version) includes 8 Mhz crystal 24 MHz bus speed possible (via PLL) local 5 Volt low-dropout 100 mA regulator includes RS232 transceiver circuit includes CAN transceiver circuit has on-chip Serial Monitor supports standalone operation 128K Bytes Flash 4K Bytes Ram 40-pin DIP form-factor precision gold-plated machined round pins pinout is super-set of competing 24-pin modules on the market Standard Version (#NC12MAXC128): US$79 Buy Direct Low-cost Version (#NC12MAXC128S): US$64 Buy Direct
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