It sounds like you would really benefit from a pre-made devboard so that you don't have to assemble or solder anything. Note that Aliexpress sellers do sometimes offer couriers like DHL for their products (just unfortunately a bit expensive).
If your goal is to write in assembly then the 8-bit AVR series of microcontrollers is probably a nicer option:
The AVR instruction set is a lot more sane than the 8051 instruction set (for a start you don't have 3 types of memory address, only 1)
Pre-made popular boards are very easy to get (buy an Arduino Mega or an Arduino Uno)
I'm fine with through-hole soldering, I have zero experience with SMT though.
I was wondering if the Arduino boards were crippled in some way and had to use only C and Arduino libraries. Are these normal boards and just sold with the Arduino name because they're programmable with the Arduino libs or is it something else?
There are plenty of Arduino boards available locally, I just didn't know what to think of them.
These boards have the programmer built in (just plug a USB cable into the board)
The flashing software is free and easy to get (avrdude can be used directly or it's built into the Arduino IDE & atmel studio IDE)
There is a lot of support on the web for beginners[/li][/list]
Well one problem (for me) is that everybody uses C and the Arduino libs. If I look around I see anybody who asks a question about AVR assembly is either ignored or told to use C. I was hoping 8 bit MCUs were still a place where assembly language is acceptable! If the Atmel tools have a decent assembler than that should work perfectly well.
If you choose a bootloader Atmel AT89xx, you do not need the SPI programmer.
eg AT89LP51RD2/RC2/RB2 series,
IIRC you just need a 1K pulldown push button on PSEN, to enable the ROM serial bootloader.
The modern 8051 parts with inbuilt bootloaders, can be flash-programmed over a serial port, so any USB-UART TTL will work. Some modules I linked include the USB-UART HW.
Usually, some pin is pulled low at RESET exit, to enable the BOOT process.
If you need DIP40 the AT89LP51RD2 etc can program using Microchips FLIP
https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/flip
The Silabs EFM8BB52 series parts are newer, with better ADC and DAC and more MHz than the Atmel parts, but EFM8 do not come in DIP. SO16 is the 'largest pitch' part.
Thanks very much, I'm going to check all the links you and others have posted, again.
I don't like C which was one of the reasons I was thinking of an 8-bit MCU.
What language do you want to use ?
I thought assembly would still be the main language in use for 8 bit MCUs. Iy's my preference in general, although assemblers vary a lot and many of them are not very good.
Without looking into it too much, I would guess the vendor toolchains would be a good choice although I saw posts on the net that assembly coders hate the new MPLAB based on them screwing up the assembler or something, not sure.
Unable to buy from Aliexpress, ebay etc. until we have a post office again
AliExpress have DHL / Fedex shipping options, they are not the default.
I'm not sure that is true for all destinations. Looking quickly at some of the links posted here, the "normal" carriers are not offered. Could also be due to the items I'm looking at are el-cheapo boards.
Ok, I found one that offers Fedex IE whatever that is. Product is 4 euros, shipping is 60 euros...nah
For parts with BOOT loaders included, you can get minimal flash-program working with a USB-UART.
Getting DEBUG is more complex, and usually needs the factory debug bridge. They use a custom 2 wire link.
Thanks, I'm trying to understand all this and I guess I may have to forget about a socketed board (the programmer for the Mikroe board costs 3X the price of the board recommended upthread) and just buy a factory board that has onboard programmer/debug to get started.
Some of the SiLabs boards are on Mouser, I'll check again for these. Unable to find a source inside the EU that stocks Nuvoton.
If you are ok with 3V MCUs, the EFM8BB1LCK is lower cost on Mouser.
The EFM8BB52 has wider supply 1.8~5.5V and has a DAC
I think it should be fine, the only "peripheral" I need for the project I have in mind is a solid state relay.
Unable to find a source inside the EU that stocks Nuvoton.
Digikey stock Nuvoton and I think the Nuvoton stores use a courier company for their $20 shipping.
Thanks, I'm gonna take another search on digikey for the Nuvoton boards that you or somebody else mentioned. I'm pretty sure nothing 8051 was in stock, but I'll check again.
Nuvoton mentions shippers that nobody here knows about. There's a risk (like with lowball DHL) that it goes to our local Post and then into a black hole. I happily pay 19 euros to Welectron to use DHL Express, it gets here the next day, but the low-tier DHL is just German Post. So, I can't use Nuvoton direct. I hope Digikey will have something. If not, Mouser has been great and I'll find something there to get started with.
I need the least painful entry, since I don't have experience with MCUs. I have written a lot of software, but on much bigger boxes. I guess making a programmer is beyond me for a while.
The least painful is to get the vendors modules, as they are known to work and include good DEBUG support, so you can single step, break and register view the target MCU.
Silabs tool chains are all free, and include good debug support.
Thanks, this is good news. The Silabs boards looked very good, is it worth dropping 120 euros on one of their 8051 boards? Are they worth it over the 20 euro "Arduino" boards mentioned upthread?
For coding in assembly: you will probably have to use your assembler (avr-gcc) and programmer (avrdude) on the command line, I don't think a nice graphical IDE for AVR assembly exists.
I'm find with command line tools and I don't use IDEs at all, but, graphical debug is just easier to use than Wall of Text debug output. I avoid gnu toolchain except when building Linux apps.
For me it's critical that the vendor has a free toolchain or at least something other than gnu is available for assemble/link/debug.
Part of the problem when you're new is you don't know enough to ask the right questions. So I really appreciate the links, comments, clarifications etc. from everybody who helped.
At this point I'll probably order one each of the el-cheapo 8051 and AVR prepopulated boards that have onboard programmer/debug unless somebody suggest a better idea.
For those boards that have predrilled solder tabs for the expansion pins, how do I know what kind of header sockets/pins I should buy to solder on the board. I don't want to solder directly to the board since at this stage I have no idea what I'm doing with MCUs and will be better off being to swap wires around. For example on this board:
Thanks guys!