Tiny Controller Delivers A Wealth Of Features

Measuring just under 1" x 1", the MC2000-074 uses the company's DEV-074 carrier board to provide two serial ports, an LCD port, a keypad port, a TTL port, nine pins of general I/O, and a connector for the company's SPI and IIc-compatible VAST port. The controller uses the company's programming language, Vesta Basic, which it claims greatly eases programming the board.
The board runs on only 9 mA and has a software controlled sleep mode that requires only 2 mA. A real time clock is implemented using one of the internal timers. If the MC2000-074 is in the sleep mode, the unit awakens for a brief period to service the interrupt then returns to the sleep mode. The board is available now and prices range from $59 to $69.