Re: Cypress PSOC programmers please comment.

Alistair,

I have worked with many micros from way back starting in 1976. It seems to
me that people's opinions are highly coloured by which micros they first
used and the subsequent paths and experience. I came to the PIC 16XXX
family relatively recently and I regard them as a throwback to the 8748,
only worse in some ways. Now I don't mean to start a flame thread since
there is a sizable cadre of PIC users who swear by its capabilities. It is
rare to find a micro that is so perfect for a task that no other micro will
do. And if it is the case, what happens on the next project?

Each micro has its advantages and disadvantages. If you are concerned
about the capabilty of any 8 bit micro in terms of execution speed etc.
then you should be looking at 16 bits or better anyway. The PSoC micro is
a middle of the road micro- no great shakes, but my applications are not
cutting edge in terms of speed. But the PSoC is more than a micro. Aside
from the CPU it has an array of analog and digital blocks which you
configure to realize the I/O configuration that you need. Unlike an 8051
where you get a fixed number of timers and UARTs, here you get to make the
choice within the limitations of the device. If you need 3 UARTS well you
can do it. You can also allocate I/O pins: I once used a single UART to
communicate with 4 external devices in turn by changing the I/O pins
dynamically. The blocks are somewhat like an FPGA and can be modified
dynamically so that you can change the configuration on the fly. Let's say
you are working with a half duplex serial port, and you have maxed out the
resources. A UART takes two logic blocks, (Tx and Rx) but on the PSoC you
can use a single logic block as a TX to send the message and then
reconfigure to an Rx for the response.

Yes there are limitations on the analog circuitry. Keep in mind it is a
$3-4 device with both digital, analog and the reconfigurabilty running on
the same piece of silicon. Just because you can configure a 14 bit A/D,
doesn't mean you get even close to an external part made exclusively to
convert perfectly.

But the whole package comes together well. As an 8051 programmer, I don't
think you will have any trouble making the transition, and both Cypress
and the users on PSoCDeveloper.com (of whom I am one) are extremely
helpful. Some of the time I may sound like an apologist, but what I would
like to convey is this. I remember the good old days where there was a new
peripheral to consider almost every week- I remember the 8255, the 8251 the
Zilog PIO, memory mapped I/O versus I/O mapped I/O; it was an exciting time
where you could use your ingenuity. The PSoC re-captures that.

-Aubrey
.

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