Welcome to the MC68HC11 mailing list. (last modified 15 March 1993) This list is dedicated to discussions concerning the MC68HC11 single-chip microcontroller, its support chips, and the popular EVB system. Also, for the time being, discussions on the hc16 dsp chip are welcome until such time as another forum is created, or the volume of traffic dictates a split. This is a semi-moderated group. Requests to subscribe, unsubscribe, or other administrivia is handled on a case by case basis. Please help keep the clutter in the group down. If you want to subscribe, de-subscribe, or have other requests to make about the mailing list, please send that sort of mail to mc68hc11-request@hipp.etsu.edu rather than the submission address, mc68hc11@hipp.etsu.edu. In order to avoid generating endless mail loops (messages bouncing back and forth between mindless mailers) some heuristics are applied to messages to screen out those which appear to be errors or requests to be added / deleted - if your message is less than 25 words or longer than 5000 words, or contains "suspect" phrases (such as subscribe) it will be routed to me and not sent to the list. If necessary, I'll post it manually when I have a chance to look at it. Additionally, please read the FAQ list below before posting. Your question might be answered before you get your first article! Incidentally, hipp stands for the "Historic Image Processing Project" - the main use of the storage on this PC. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 0. "Who are you?" Nick Sayer orginated the list, but found it growing very rapidly and straining the connectivity resources of his machine. I voluenteered to take the list over since I've been using the HC11 EVB in my classes for several years. There are now about 300 subscribers on the list located in 13 different countries. The list is originated at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences of East Texas State University, located in Commerce, Texas about 60 miles east of Dallas. It was previously located in Flagstaff Arizona, but was moved from there due to the lack of support for the list and the fact that the administratior was laid off due to budget cutbacks in higher education in Arizona. Perhaps of some interest is that the list is being run on a 386 based PC using the GNU copyleft 386BSD unix system, a terrific piece of software for the price (free). ---Bob Wier, list admin (wier@hipp.etsu.edu or wier@merlin.etsu.edu) 1. "What is the MC68HC11?" It is a group of single-chip microcontrollers made by Motorola based on the 6800 CPU. Unlike many such chips, however, the chip can boot into an extended mode which replaces two of the parallel ports with a complete address and data bus. The very same chip, therefore, can be used for prototype AND for the final product. This is truly a terrific chip! The base model is the MC68HC11A8. It has the 6800 CPU, 8K of factory programmed ROM, 512 bytes of EEPROM, 256 bytes of RAM, 1 serial port, 8 A/D converters, a timer/counter unit, a serial communications channel (NOT an asynchronous serial port), and 5 parallel ports. The A1 is used in the EVB, and is the same thing without the ROM. 2. "What is the EVB or MC68HC11EVB?" It is a circuit board containing a MC68HC11A1, a PRU (port replacement unit - replaces the two ports taken up by the address bus), 8K of external ROM - which contains a powerful monitor, and two RS-232 ports. You can plug one end of a cable into the EVB and the other end into a socket in a product that would take a MC68HC11 and use the monitor to debug the prototype hardware, or plug that cable into a big storage scope and debug the software.... the mind boggles. 3. "How and/or where can I purchase an EVB?" For the past several years, Motorola has run a "student design contest" which has encouraged the use of the hc11/evb in university courses. Thus universitys are frequently in a position to order the EVB (or you may find them available off the shelf at the U bookstore). A number of "standard" electronics and component suppliers also carry the board. The EVB actually comes in three flavors - The original EVB - which is what the moderator has used for several years in design courses - a terrific deal for students at the original price of $68.11 (cute...). Instead of having them buy a text (which would probably cost that anyway), they just bought an EVB and got to take the computer with them at the end of the semester. The course(s) was taught from the technical manuals included with the kit. The EVB requires a dumb ascii terminal or better (Mac or PC recommended) and a power supply with +5, and +/- 12 v (to run the RS232 interface). Unfortunately the current production status of the EVB is unknown. In the fall of 1991 Motorola introduced two new products, the EVBII and the EVBU: The EVBII is a redesign of the EVB using "modern" technology, such as a charge pump chip to develop the RS232 voltages. It also has available a subsidary logic analyzer board. I've not had time to look at this extensively yet. Also, the price range is up around $150, making it too expensive for an individual student purchase plan (at least at state supported universities). To fill the gap left by the EVB, there is the EVBU (university model) which is available at the original EVB price of $68.11. (The last I heard, the EVB was available at $88, but hasn't been confirmed recently). The EVBU is a usable microcontroller, but is limited in such respects as memeory supplied. It does have a wire wrap area (and in fact one student group here this spring used and EVBU in a project and wire wrapped in a subsidiary EPROM chip - not a big deal). It also includes a Real Time Clock chip (although a number of boards received here early in the production run were missing it). Using a Mac or a PC with the EVB / EVBU / EVBII gives you a complete development system at a VERY reasonable cost (assuming you already have the computer). Freeware / Shareware is available (cross - compilers, monitors, simple C compilers) either at the ftp site here or elsewhere. There was also an EVM (evaluation module) which was a higher level product than the EVB. I'm not sure if it's still in production or what it might cost. The address and phone number for Motorola University Support is: Motorola SPS University Support 56-106 P.O. Box 52073 Phoenix, Az 85072 602-952-3855 602-952-3621 (FAX) There is an excellent introductory article in June 1991 issue of Computer Craft (formerly Modern Electronics) on M68HC11 micro- controller and the EVB along with the above mentioned pricing and availability infromation. Circuit Cellar also publishes articles from time to time on the HC11. HC11 information has also appeared in Circida's Circuit Cellar Ink, (he also had a column in BYTE magazine for a number of years) and Midnight Engineering magazine (strong on micro controller content). Also, if you qualify, Embedded Systems magazine is very worthwhile (a "controlled circulation" magazine). I strongly recommend that anyone interested in buying the EVB should call the University Support to confirm availability and price, before sending in any money. Disclaimer: I am not connected with Motorola or Computer Craft in any way other than being a happy customer. 4. "How can I get in touch with Motorola to get technical info?" As far as I can tell, Motorola University support (as they like to call themselves) is headed by Fritz Wilson. His office is in the Semiconductor Products Sector in Phoenix, Arizona. Fritz: 602-952-3855 They can help you with pretty much anything, but beware, it's usually pretty hard to get in touch with them, and they have a real annoying voice mail system. ;) All requests to them must be in writing. Students should include a copy of their ID along with their written request. FAX requests are accepted at the FAX number: 602-952-3621. Otherwise, they give the address of: P.O. BOX 52073 Phoenix, AZ 85072-2073 But, on another card I received, there is also listed the following: 3102 North 56th Street Phoenix, AZ 85018-6606 When paying for something, they hold onto personal checks until they clear the bank, so you may want to send a cashiers check. If you can get your university to pay for it, you can just send them the purchase order, and they will bill you. 5. "Where can I get support software?" Right Here! Just anonymous ftp into pub/hc11 on hipp.etsu.edu and you will find hc11 support software, mirroring the Motorola freeware bulletin board (see below). Motorola has given permission to make this available to encourge wider distribution of hc11 tools via the Internet. I plan on reorganizing this when I get a chance to make it more logical. Honest. You can call the Motorola "Freeware BBS" at 512-891-FREE (3733) (1200/2400 bps). They have cross assemblers, sources for the BUFFALO monitors, etc. Other likely sites: here is an ARCHIE listing (as of 24 Apr 1992): LOCATION (anonymous ftp via Internet) (many of these require BINARY file transfer!) aix370.rrz.uni-koeln.de /programming bode.ee.ualberta.ca /pub/DOS/motorola/68hc11 sugrfx.acs.syr.edu /pub/vr/powerglove/hc11 ee.utah.edu /admin karazm.math.uh.edu calvin.stanford.edu /motorola/68hc11 calvin.stanford.edu /new_uploads hpcsos.col.hp.com /misc/motorola/68hc11 lth.se /pub/languages/assembler munnari.oz.au /pub nic.funet.fi /pub/msdos/interfaces/emulators plaza.aarnet.edu.au /micros/pc/oak/emulators rigel.acs.oakland.edu /pub/msdos sun0.urz.uni-heidelberg.de /pub/msdos/simtel/emulators wuarchive.wustl.edu /mirrors/msdos/emulators The OLD archive/mailing site was rainbow.cse.nau.edu or alternately, red.cs.tcu.edu. These should NOT be used since they have been superceeded by the etsu site. If you find anything really neat at these sites, I'd appreciate a note so I can put it in here. 6. What is the PowerGlove HC11 machine? The powerglove is a device originally manufactured for video game usage,' but which has been adapted as a general position sensitive input device. It's of interest here because one of the major interfaces was developed using the hc11 - doing an ARCHIE search turns up the following sites for more information. Host compute1.cc.ncsu.edu (152.1.10.46) Last updated 02:47 15 Mar 1993 Location: /mirrors/wustl/graphics/graphics/mirrors/sugrfx.acs.syr.edu/powerg love DIRECTORY rwxr-xr-x 512 Dec 5 18:23 hc11 Host ftp.nau.edu (134.114.64.70) Last updated 02:41 15 Mar 1993 Location: / DIRECTORY rwxr-xr-x 512 Dec 5 04:30 hc11 Host frosch.cosy.sbg.ac.at (141.201.2.16) Last updated 16:33 14 Mar 1993 Location: /pub/mirror/vr/powerglove DIRECTORY rwxr-xr-x 1024 Feb 13 15:17 hc11 Host wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) Last updated 19:12 5 Mar 1993 Location: /graphics/graphics/mirrors/sugrfx.acs.syr.edu/powerglove DIRECTORY rwxr-xr-x 512 Dec 5 17:23 hc11 Host sunsite.unc.edu (152.2.22.81) Last updated 01:00 3 Mar 1993 Location: /pub/academic/computer-science/virtual-reality/powerglove DIRECTORY rwxr-xr-x 512 Dec 3 07:22 hc11 Host plaza.aarnet.edu.au (139.130.4.6) Last updated 06:43 27 Feb 1993 Location: /graphics/graphics/mirrors/sugrfx.acs.syr.edu/powerglove DIRECTORY rwxr-xr-x 512 Feb 1 00:59 hc11 - Bob Wier, keeper of the list