Sophisticated networking and communications capabilities that were previously the sole domain of mainframes, PCs, and workstations are now becoming mandatory in the realm of smaller embedded microcontrollers. However, documentation, standards, and design information is scattered among many sources and is difficult to find.In this practical book, popular columnist and embedded designer Fred Eady is your guide and advisor. He pulls together all the necessary design background and details and shows you how to use todays affordable microcontrollers for powerful communications and networking applications such as local area networks and embedded internet. Using working code examples and schematics, Eady steers you through the basics using two popular microcontroller families, PIC and Atmel.