Hi Brian,
I'm pretty new to 8052 but I took the advice of some of the members of the 8052
mail list.I purchased a Phycore module and development board from Phytec at www.Phytec.com.
The module I bought was the Philips P89C51RD2 with 64k of on board memory.It is
a real joy to use - no more EPROMS for me!
The development board comes with free assembler,compiler and simulator (though limited to 2k of code ).I started with the Keil introductory software (you get a choice !) but since I reached the 2k code limit on my program I decided to purchase the Pinnacle 52 suite and simulator from the 8052 website.It is really a very good tool and is exceptional value for it's price.
The Phycore modules are also really well priced since all you need to get started is a serial port from your PC and to download flashmagic for free.
Good luck with your choice.
Phil Bassett - 8052 newbie.