Panasonic chips

[Saucesome]

Hi guys, i'm just starting out in electronics and have by some chance come across a box of Micro controllers from Philips, specifically P89C51RD2HBP. The problem is that i have no clue what device i have to use to program them. Also, the data sheet i've found online says its part of the 80C51 family but i have no clue what that means. Thanks for the help!

[@rt]

a family of microcontrollers will have similar architecture, but differences regarding peripherals, clock speed, ports, memory, etc.
so that if you became familiar with one, it wouldn’t be too much trouble using any of the family for another project that had some different requirements.

[nctnico]

That is a 8051 based controller and is very much outdated. Better look at something with an ARM cpu inside like NXP's LPC series. These are not difficult to use, have good documentation and lots of online info.

[Saucesome]

Noted, thanks, but out of curiosity, how do i program chips from brands other then ATMEL and Microchip?

[nctnico]

Noted, thanks, but out of curiosity, how do i program chips from brands other then ATMEL and Microchip?

Usually with a device specific programmer (even if the connection itself is a JTAG port). The LPC series from NXP can also be programmed using a serial port or through USB (if supported by the device).