Nuts and Volts - February 2009

NEW PRODUC

■ HARDWARE ■ SOFTWARE ■ GADGETS ■ TOOLS

T

S

XGS AVR 8-BIT AND XGS PIC 16-BIT

The XGS

AVR eight-bit is based on the Atmel

Mega AVR644 processor and is a highly integrated development kit for exploring the Mega AVR processors in a fun and engaging way.

On the other hand, the XGS AVR eight-bit is designed to be a serious AVR development kit for schools, students, engineers, and anyone interested in learning AVR

programming. Clocked at over 28 MIPS, the XGS AVR eight-bit is a powerful development board. The system has the following features:

• AVR644 processor with 64K Flash/ 4K SRAM running at over 28 MIPS.

• 3.3/5V dual supplies.

• VGA.

• NTSC/PAL with color generation helper hardware.

• Micro SD card interface.

• Serial port.

• ISP and JTAG programming ports.

• PS/2 keyboard/mouse port.

• Expansion port header exporting numerous I/O, power, and signal lines for experimentation.

• 3.3/5V internally regulated supplies.

• Two game controller ports (Nintendo compatible).

The XGS AVR eight-bit kit provides a fun way to learn AVR programming in the context of graphics, audio, and simple game development. Instead of blinking LEDs and displaying digits on a seven-segment display, users will develop graphics applications that control the VGA and NTSC screen to learn AVR C and ASM. The kit is extremely competitive and comes with the following items in the bundle: