Hackaday shows how to take a cheap ($6) 32-bit CPU in a breadboard-friendly package, plug in a small number of parts (resistors, LEDs, and a cable), and use an online Arduino-like IDE to program it. The chip is way more powerful than an 8-bit Arduino and the code is comparable in complexity to an Arduino sketch that does the same thing. It's an easy way to get into embedded without having to suffer through 8-bit processors.
Any one had try it?
Teensy 3 and Teensy3.1 are easier to use, but not as cheap. 32-bit ARM @ 96Mhz.
Pete
Nope, still cheerily plodding on in 8-bit land.
http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/LPC111X.pdf
The peripheral complement of the LPC1110/11/12/13/14/15 includes
up to 64 kB of flash memory, - 32K in 28pin DIP
up to 8 kB of data memory, - 4K in 28pin DIP (and no EEPROM)
one Fast-mode Plus I2C-bus interface, - pins are open drain only, even when used as general IO
one RS-485/EIA-485 UART,
up to two SPI interfaces with SSP features, - one on 28 pin DIP
four general purpose counter/timers, - 3 on 28 pin DIP
a 10-bit ADC, - 6 channel mux on 28 pin DIP
and up to 42 general purpose I/O pins. - 21 in 28pin DIP if a Reset button is needed. 3 pins support 20mA, but I2C uses 2 of them.
All that and it needs 1.8V to 3.6V power. I'm not doing any projects where 4x processor speed would help.
Read the datasheet, might be the part for your next project, or it might not.
I have 2 ARM Cortex M3 lying around, waiting for some project. To be precise, they are Silabs SIM3U167: up to 80MHz, and have everything built-in: 256kb flash, 32kb SRAM, USB, SPI, I2C, LDO regulator, and can go up to 16Mb of RAM with external memory (DMA controller is also built-in).
Since they are in TQFP-80, I've ordered 2 adapter boards so I can breadboard them.
I still have absolutely no idea where to start!!! I'd like, however, to build a signal/function generator.