Dear Don,

Select a P89c51RD2 microprocessor. It is from Philips and has 64K on board flash memory for code . This also has a built in UART for serial interface - easily done with a MAX232 chip. First download the data sheet of the MCU from the Philips web site.

Next you can download the free Win based In System Program from www.esacademy.com called FlashMagic.It is good and easy to use.It works with the serial port. If you have doubts about using the ISP then download the AN461 application note from Philips.

Next to get the ASCII you can use the serial port . And as far as parallel I/O pins are concerned you will have 30Pins after consuming 2 pins for the serial communication- I do suppose that is more than enough.

As to development software / hardware just visit the links to the left. To start with you can go with a simple assembler and then migrate to C Compilers. First you need to know the processor well - for this assembly is better.

Let me know your specific queries next...


Raghu