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Need 8051 soup-to-nuts recommendation please

Howard Pautz

A few years ago, I inherited dozens of tubes of 8051 MCUs, specifically the Atmel AT89C51ED2-IM. I know they're old - and clearly tons of much better MCUs exist - but they'd be useful. (Plus, it just feels wrong discarding 100+ good chips.) 

Any suggestions what Keil (or other) product to use, which programming gizmo, and possibly a dev board? I'd like to spend as little as possible as this is hobby stuff.  8051 assembler or C is fine.

So far, I've found these but am uncertain if they'll work:

  • PK51 pro kit - might be too costly(?) --- is there a set up that just does 8051 cores?
  • Mikroe-1382 programmer --- backordered, less than $75
  • Mikroe-257 dev board --- in my price range of $25 :) ...

I understand that Arduino's can be used for the programmer / loader, but apparently the "C" type Atmel's I have need a more sophisticated programming device than the "S" types (or is that incorrect?)

Any assistance is greatly appreciated. thanks!

Parents
  • 0 Arm Employee Badge

    This was a pretty good device many years ago with 64K of on-chip Flash. Here are some recommendations:

    • You could use our PK51 to generate code. The code size limit of the free evaluation version is just 2K.
    • You don't need a programmer to download your application to the on-chip Flash. You can do that via UART interface with the free FLIP tool. See:https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/flip. This tool can be set up as a download tool within our uVision IDE
    • Like most old 8051 devices, this chip does not have a debug interface. However, you could use our ISD51 (https://www.keil.com/c51/isd51.asp) to debug your application via UART.
    • Since this device is usually used without an external bus system (RAM/Flash), an evaluation board could be quite simple. This chip only needs a power supply and a crystal oscillator with two caps. You can then connect a USB to serial converter which outputs 3.3V or 5V signals rather than a RS232 signal levels. These are available on ebay for a few euro/dollar. Maybe you can find a breakout board with a PLCC44 socket to make it easier.
Reply
  • 0 Arm Employee Badge

    This was a pretty good device many years ago with 64K of on-chip Flash. Here are some recommendations:

    • You could use our PK51 to generate code. The code size limit of the free evaluation version is just 2K.
    • You don't need a programmer to download your application to the on-chip Flash. You can do that via UART interface with the free FLIP tool. See:https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/flip. This tool can be set up as a download tool within our uVision IDE
    • Like most old 8051 devices, this chip does not have a debug interface. However, you could use our ISD51 (https://www.keil.com/c51/isd51.asp) to debug your application via UART.
    • Since this device is usually used without an external bus system (RAM/Flash), an evaluation board could be quite simple. This chip only needs a power supply and a crystal oscillator with two caps. You can then connect a USB to serial converter which outputs 3.3V or 5V signals rather than a RS232 signal levels. These are available on ebay for a few euro/dollar. Maybe you can find a breakout board with a PLCC44 socket to make it easier.
Children
  • 0 in reply to Hans Schneebauer

    Thanks for the detailed reply, Hans.

    Just downloaded C51 --- at first glance, it looks good.

    However, I've been reading that the chip version "C" (AT89C51) I have cannot be programmed via the UART, whereas the at least the "S" types can be (AT89S52, etc.).  Do you know if that is correct?

    I am also unclear which programmer I'd need for that specific chip together with C51 (or PK51 eval.)  ... been digging but uncertain ... e.g. ULINK.

    Any suggestions?  (Again, since this is hobby-level, I'd like to keep it as inexpensive as possible.)

    These, btw, are DIP40's - and I've got all those goodies you mention, and then some, to set up that simple eval board. (ZIF Sockets are your friend :)

    thank you for your time,

    - Howard