[AiboHack - Boneyard] Why use the ATMEL AVR90S2313 ? http://www.aibohack.com/robosap/why_avr.

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Why use the ATMEL AVR90S2313 ?

Advantages:

Cheap - under $4 for the chip. Generally available (a common chip)

20 pin chip (DIP), easy to wire up
Plentiful free tools (assembler, C, C++)
Powerful instruction set (true "RISC" programming model with many registers)
Chip runs at 3.3V, so interfacing to existing CPU (also 3.3V) doesn't require level shifters.
4MHz is fast enough, but chips can go faster.

128B of E2PROM (so programs will not be lost after power off)
128B of RAM and seperate 32B of registers (more RAM than needed)
Can be very easily programmed (via serial interface). Several relatively cheap programming designs are
available on the web. Parallel programming is optional.
On board UART [multiple uses: RF remote control, CMU Cam]
Enough horsepower for second software UART [used for debug terminal]
other hardware features (timer/counters, SPI, watchdog, etc - most of which I don't use)
Disadvantage: Only 2KB of flash for code (instructions are typically 16bit)
Disadvantage: faster part needs 4V or more (slower part goes down to 2.7V)

Overall a pretty cool little chip.

FWIW: I considered and rejected a few other chips

Chips with onboard BASIC (BASIC STAMP, PIC BASIC) - too expensive, $30->$40 or so. Usually not
enough space for program and data.
ATMEL 89S2051 - only 128B RAM total, no E2PROM, and harder to program (parallel)
Low pin count PICs with serial programming - little RAM, no UART, weird programming model
8 pin chips - too small (need at least 10 i/o pins)
other larger CPU/MCUs - too big

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