Re: Do you see any future to the 8-bit MCU's?

On Jul 21, 2:24 pm, Tim Wescott <t...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:15:19 -0700, linnix wrote:
On Jul 21, 11:14 am, Tim Wescott <t...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:06:23 -0700, linnix wrote:
On Jul 21, 9:46 am, Tauno Voipio <tauno.voi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On 21.7.11 6:30 , Antoni Lacasta i Sullà wrote:

Hi,

During the latest months I have been receiving offers for 32-bit
MCU's, mostly based on ARM-Cortex CPU's, at prices I'm currently
paying for 8-bit devices, or even cheaper! This has brought me to
benchmark them with the MCU independent part of my C++ code and
surprisingly the results are quite similar.

Same price, same flash consumption ... what do yo think? Is this
the end of the 8-bit's? I guess it is.

Regards,
Toni.

I just redesigned an old card using a 8051, an A/D converter, a
static RAM (2 kilobytes) and some glue logic. The new card was done
with a Stellaris Cortex, LM3S818. All the IC:s on the new card
costed together less than the A/D converter chip on the old design.

When our current AVR -based designs need to be replaced, the
Stellaris chips are the potential replacements.

The Stellaris chips run fast with minimal electricity, but there is
the price of a quite complicated set-up of the master and peripheral
clocks and port pins.

Except for the price of the tools.  AVR and PIC tools are still much
cheaper.  We expect to spend around $1k for the new tools;
unfortunately, the cheap/low cost version won't cut it.

I'm using the gnu-arm tool chain, built from source*.  It works fine..

Does it work for Freescale's Cortex M4 w/ DSP?

I don't know -- but it took to the Cortex M3 like wildfire.  I suspect
that the best you could hope for would be that the 'ordinary' C and C++
stuff would compile just fine, but anything DSP would have to be done in
assembly, by hand.

But then, that's the best I've ever gotten out of a 'paid for' tool chain..

How much does CodeSourcery want for the 'real' tools?

Around 1K for most of them.

Then unless you're facing a period of forced unemployment, just plain
want to learn how to build the tools, or head up a big group and can set
one person to being "the tools guy" it's probably worth it to buy, or to
try out their free tool chain.


Yes, we are going to need DSP. I have fixed gcc and gas before. I
can probably hack in the necessary DSP instructions. I still need
some kind of JTAG/SWD programmer. Do TI/LMI and NXP programmers work
on other chips? If not, i will get the Freescale one.

I am still waiting for the customer decision for this. If we buy, we
would need at least two licenses. If we build on a virtual server,
there is no limit.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Selecting a starter FPGA board
    ... used spartan 3a's so you could upgrade to the 3800 dsp. ... Those chips ... are actually cheaper than the 3e1200 ... It seems that there was a Spartan3E board with the 3E1600 ...
    (comp.arch.fpga)
  • =?iso-8859-1?Q?Re:_Re:_Article:_Microsoft=B9s_Outrageous_Office_Profits?=
    ... (There is no 'cheaper' price than what they wanted from ... the price of the individual packages was in relation to what competitors were charging, not just what ms themselves were charging, so there IS a 'cheaper' price. ... but the suite of all three is $150. ... >> causing prices to go up. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Cheap eats in the USA
    ... I noticed that the prices are going up at Winco. ... Thankfully my husband is living where he can eat in the mess hall. ... Or the cheaper things. ... source and try to ship things that have no added postage. ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: Diesel 9,5$/gl in Norway
    ... I guess that's why gasoline is so much cheaper in Mexico. ... prices in Venezuela, Nigeria, Egypt or ... Caribbean Net News Puerto Rico Correspondent ...
    (alt.auto.mercedes)
  • Re: Engine replacement info
    ... i couldn't come up with a cheaper and more reliable ... make sure and call the ebay division ... when we were buying the 07 bagger i tried to get the locals to match prices ... that don't come with the crate motor can be pulled off the old one. ...
    (rec.motorcycles.harley)