[sdiy] uC with mul

[Paul Maddox]

Theo,

> Have to agree about the large MEGA part.
> In the end Atmel gave what they had promised,
> too bad it took them 2 years longer than they first promised :(
> My Step One sequencer was designed around the improved mega specs.
> First and last time I put a "soon to be released" chip into a product. :((

hehehe,
I NEVER start designing with a chip until I at least have a sample in my
hand!

> ARM uC are available from many brands, not just Atmel.
> Don't know if it has been surpassed, but for a long time the
> Intel StrongARM was the absolute top.

yes, but they're still pricey...

> The Atmel ARM starter kit is actually quite affordable,
> only problem is that it comes with limited "evaluation" software :(
> GNU is the only affordable workaround I know about.

this is the *HUGE* limitation with it, how damn annoying!!!
you just start to get the hang of it, and the damn SDK times out,
"ATMEL YOU IDIOTS!"
Its cost them my buisness and future buisness...
Why couldnt they have just had a code limited version?
instead of a bloody time limited version..
or even a NODE LOCKED version.. if I spend My hard earned cash on a
development board, I kind of expect to be able to use it for more than 60
days!!!
"IDIOTS!"
sorry...
I feel better now...

> On the other hand a nice ARM development platform is the
> Acorn Argimedes (sp?).
> Which comes a the price of a second hand '80s home computer.
> Actually its appearance also resembles a '80s home computer,
> mmm, wonder why this would be <lol>
> Downside; The ARM in the Argimedes doesn't support the Thumb
> instruction set.

This is a problem..
But my main reason for thinking of ARM was to stay in 32 Bit mostly...
Its a shame that ARM dont have a web version of their SDK or even a reduced
price..
No wonder the coldfire processor is takeing off like it is...

Paul


>
>
> Cheers,
> Theo
>
>
>
> From: Paul Maddox <Paul.Maddox at wavesynth.com>
>
> > Theo,
> >
> > > That's a rather large ROM.
> > > Considering the added costs it might be cheaper to migrate to a
> > > MegaAVR with mult or move to a ARM part right away.
> >
> > The Mega is a chip I have been waiting for from Atmel for about a year
(I
> > have had sample for a couple of months)..
> > Its fast, has In system programming, JTAG and a huge chunk of memory...
> > For me, its pretty much an ideal embedded CPU..
> >
> > The ARM stuff is a tottally different ballgame ( I have an Atmel
EB63)...
> > 32Bit for a start, something like 4M of address space though there is no
> > discinttion bewteen code and data address bus's (non harvard
> architecure)...
> > The ARM is a REAL number cruncher... if you need to do a lot of BIG
maths
> > quickly this is the chip for you..
> > Thoguh watch out, the ARM SDK is 1000UKP (and thats the lite version!)
> > also the chips are expensive..
> >
> > The ARM and Mega are two different processors for two different types of
> > applications..
> >
> > Paul
> > _______________________________________
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> > PPG Synthesizer pages;-
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> >     http://www.opensynth.wavesynth.org/
> > Waveterm C Project page;-
> >     Http://www.waveterm.com
> >
> >
> >
>
>