Re: Who is working with the SAM9263?

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:11:29 +0200, "Ulf Samuelsson"
<ulf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"rickman" <gnuarm@xxxxxxxxx> skrev i meddelandet
news:1175172664.914528.170940@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Mar 29, 1:26 am, "Ulf Samuelsson" <u...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"rickman" <gnu...@xxxxxxxxx> skrev i
meddelandetnews:1175129175.899218.6800@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I am looking at using the SAM9263 and noticed that they use a 16.36766
MHz crystal rather than the 18.432 they use on the SAM7 eval boards.
Anyone know why they picked this value? Do they use this value on the
other SAM92xx eval boards?

In general, what are your experiences with these parts?

It might be related to the undocumented GPS receiver on the chip.

Anything is possible, but the two frequencies are not related by an
integer combination I can find. This seems odd to me since they
specify the frequency so exactly to 7 decimal places. This is about
the limit of what a reasonable crystal can provide.


Some people find it difficult to with the 2% requirement of RS-232.
Communication by Radio to something in the stratosphere
may require a little better crystal.

There is nothing to stop you from switching to a different
crystal (I.E: 18,432 Mhz) in your own design.

Since the GPS is not accessible, you have no need for that
frequency.



Some restrictions I have found:

Cannot use SDRAM on EBI1, only on EBI0
or you will lose the Ethernet due to the muxing

PSRAMs are next best alternative, the ST one on the
board appears to be obsolete already , but there is
a replacement from Micron.

I also noticed that the eval boards for the SAM9 devices are around
$1,000 US. I think the only one significantly less is for the SAM9260
which is about $600. Why are they so expensive?


Because someone wanted cheaper development boards
than those for the AT91RM9200 which started off at $5000
and went down eventually to $1250.

Someone told me some years ago that the AT91RM9200EK PCB
in Atmel volumes is about $100.

I am lobbying for a new way of building development tools
which should allow Atmel to bring down its cost structure.

The raisonance kits seem to be a good compromise. They have a
standard motherboard which they presumely can manufacture in higher
volumes. They then have a memorystick type CPU board which plugs into
this motherboard. A different stick for each type of processor. When I
was looking for an STR9 dev kit, theirs were by far the best value for
money.

Anton Erasmus

.