Re: A hobbyist's viewpoint, was: Re: Who is working with the SAM9263?

"Simon Clubley" <clubley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> skrev i
meddelandet news:y5MWbiyefJso@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <sk40131m78qdichrehuolgujdaq1qus7jp@xxxxxxx>, Anton Erasmus
<nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

I do believe if Atmel did something similar, one might have to pay
US$500 for the first development board, but after that if they made
compatible daughter boards available, they should be able to sell
them at a much reduced price. Also the daughter boards might actually
be suitable for some types of final product boards, and there is scope
for third parties to develop different mother boards to take advantage
of daughter boards. I am sure that many hobbiests would love to be
able to buy a small CPU module that can plug into a dev kit, but can
be used on one's own board. Especially for the BGA only devices.


That is my belief as well.

As I am a hobbyist (at least when it comes to electronics), I will comment
what I personally look for in CPU modules.

When it comes to electronics, my software skills far exceed my hardware
skills, ie: while I have absolutely no problems writing, say, device
drivers
for a new piece of hardware, I still use PDIP components when I build
my own circuits.

Cost is also very much an issue in a hobbyist world. For example, if I
had a choice between (1) a board costing, 70-80 UKP, but I had to put a
great deal of effort into building my own software development toolkit, or
(2) buying a fully complete, ready-to-go package for 250-300 UKP, I would
choose the cheaper option (1) everytime. In a business environment, you
would likely choose option (2) every time instead.


Module cost is a key criteria

This means that I would like to see a CPU module that had it's own power
point, a USB host connector, some flash/ram and a method of programming
without requiring a baseboard, but that could still be plugged into a
baseboard to take out the rest of the signals from the module.


Key is to have a low cost baseboard.
I think a good approach is to have a volume board for 8 bit controllers
as a baseboard and then you soup it up with a 32 bitter
which has the Ethernet and USB connectors.

I think that your type of CPU module which fits on top of the STK500
which many people already have would be a nice entry point.

If you start to get serious about modules for OEM volumes,
then I doubth that you want to have the connectors there.

The baseboard capability is to make it of interest to those people with
the skills to design a baseboard (and hence, the increased volumes make
it cheaper).

Have a look at the Digi ConnectCore 9C as an example of the kind of thing
that I am thinking of. Unfortunately, with the Digi, it appears that you
have to buy a full package to get started.

BTW, Ulf may like to know that the _only_ reason that I don't use AVR
in my own circuits is because of a lack of a AVR with USB device in a PDIP
packaging. Yes, I know that there's various AVR development boards from
Atmel as well a GPL USB device software emulation, but what would be nice
would be a AVR PDIP version of Freescale's HC08 JB8 that I can drop into
my own circuits.


It should be possible to make a small module with the QFN version of the
AT90USB1287.
That would be appropriate for hobbyists
I do have a feeling that PDIP is going to become more and more scarce.
The new 28 pin AVR with USB will not come in DIP.

Simon.




--
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson
This is intended to be my personal opinion which may,
or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB



.

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