Bret, I am sorry, perhaps I started this.

But you see it always pays off by venting out silly questions.

In the begining you get mobbed by others, but in the end they load you with tons of valueable information in a "FLASH" that otherwise you would take years to "BURN" in your head. (Be thankful to Steve, JC and Peter)

I beleive you are a virgin in the realm of microcontrollers.
You must wed ATMEL to start with, and always sleep on <8052.com> tutorial. The most comfortable bed for begginers ever made by Craig.

Forget about high tech husbands in the start like XA or Dallas etc....

Don't buy programers. Just download parallel programer from <atmel.com> and make it by yourself. It will let you have some hands on experience.

Buy a couple of chips AT89c51/52, AT89c2051 from <jameco.com>.

Get a book "The 8051 Microcontroller" by I. Scot. McCanzy. The simplest for the biggeners.


The POPE now pronounces you and atmel ......................

May you live happily ever after.

Amin!