AVR32 destiny or destination (Ulf Samuelsson RSVP)
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From: David Brown on 31 May 2010 10:08 On 31/05/2010 11:48, StoneThrower wrote: > Hi, > > Can someone (perhaps resident Atmel guru Ulf Samuelsson RSVP) arguably > explain how AVR32 is posioned against competition in terms of market > share and future "road map". I guess I'm asking for a kind of marketing > pitch to convince me that investing money in development tools and time > in learning them is a "good" investment in a long run, in contrast with > the same time/money dilema pertaining ARMs (therefore ***no*** PIC32 > dilema here). > > I'm not asking for a ARM vs AVR32 technical dissection(s), although I > wouldn't mind, just some courage to jump into deep AVR32 waters. I still > have a kind of fobia regarding infamous Hitachi's "6 months notice > before EOL". > The big AVR32 devices, AP7xxx, seem to have died without much warning. The planned new generation devices never appeared, and then the existing devices were suddenly re-labelled "mature" and re-filed in the attic in Atmel's website. It's a pity, since they had a lot of value for money, a lot of processing power per milliamp, and good support on the software side (solid gcc port from Atmel, buildroot embedded Linux environment, evaluation cards, etc.). Last I heard, the UC3 AVR32 microcontroller line was solid and with new parts in development. The tools are not expensive - you can use the same jtag debugger for the AVR32 and the 8-bit AVR micros, and the avr32 studio is a free download along with a complete gcc toolchain. For those who prefer to pay money, I gather there is also an IAR toolchain - I don't know how it compares in code generation quality.
From: Chris H on 31 May 2010 11:26 In message <a8cc210d-4e20-4fac-9340-9b006bae6702(a)e21g2000vbl.googlegroup s.com>, larwe <zwsdotcom(a)gmail.com> writes >On May 31, 6:50�am, Chris H <ch...(a)phaedsys.org> wrote: > >> Any one doing serious development will be able to get 10-20 parts as >> free samples so no need of Digikey. > >Ha. I work for a company with around US$33BN in market capitalization. >We use HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Atmel devices a year. > >Per policy, it is extremely difficult to get more than 5 samples of >any part out of Atmel. Direct or through disti, it is just not >possible. You have to get your rep to split the orders into multiple >fake orders to fake customers just to get 20 parts. Having seen your posts over the last decade you seem to have trouble with all silicon companies and their distributors. The common factor is you. I have never had any problem getting any parts out of Atmel or many others. Siemens/infineon was a problem for a while though they sorted themselves out. TI were the only ones I had any trouble with but that was a very specialised part for a strange customer. -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
From: -jg on 31 May 2010 16:04 On May 31, 10:50 pm, Chris H <ch...(a)phaedsys.org> wrote: > In message <c7fe4150-c1c0-409c-92a3-b5ef054b2...(a)u20g2000pru.googlegroup > s.com>, -jg <jim.granvi...(a)gmail.com> writes > > >On May 31, 9:48 pm, "StoneThrower" <digi_64- > >public[removethis]@yahoo.com> wrote: > >> Hi, > > >> Can someone (perhaps resident Atmel guru Ulf Samuelsson RSVP) arguably > >> explain how AVR32 is posioned against competition in terms of market share > >> and future "road map". > > >posioned ? > > >One indicator is usage, and you can get one measure of that, from > >Digikey : > > Not really. It could be that as the AVR32 is so popular with the big > users Atmel does not have time for small players like Digikey. Most > reps for Silicon distis don't get out of bed for deals at less than 50K > USD p/a. Hmm. I think you did not read what I wrote. The example link I gave, shows a part Digikey certainly DID 'get out of bed on', and has over 1000pcs showing currently in stock. They also have the part showing as NOT being restocked. It is the change of state, that is the indicator here. Of course, if the OP is buying 1M+ pcs, Atmel will keep a line running just for him, but asking that question I suspect not.... -jg
From: Ian on 1 Jun 2010 09:58 On May 31, 3:08 pm, David Brown <da...(a)westcontrol.removethisbit.com> wrote: > On 31/05/2010 11:48, StoneThrower wrote: > > > Hi, > > > Can someone (perhaps resident Atmel guru Ulf Samuelsson RSVP) arguably > > explain how AVR32 is posioned against competition in terms of market > > share and future "road map". I guess I'm asking for a kind of marketing > > pitch to convince me that investing money in development tools and time > > in learning them is a "good" investment in a long run, in contrast with > > the same time/money dilema pertaining ARMs (therefore ***no*** PIC32 > > dilema here). > > > I'm not asking for a ARM vs AVR32 technical dissection(s), although I > > wouldn't mind, just some courage to jump into deep AVR32 waters. I still > > have a kind of fobia regarding infamous Hitachi's "6 months notice > > before EOL". > > The big AVR32 devices, AP7xxx, seem to have died without much warning. > The planned new generation devices never appeared, and then the existing > devices were suddenly re-labelled "mature" and re-filed in the attic in > Atmel's website. It's a pity, since they had a lot of value for money, > a lot of processing power per milliamp, and good support on the software > side (solid gcc port from Atmel, buildroot embedded Linux environment, > evaluation cards, etc.). > > Last I heard, the UC3 AVR32 microcontroller line was solid and with new > parts in development. The tools are not expensive - you can use the > same jtag debugger for the AVR32 and the 8-bit AVR micros, and the avr32 > studio is a free download along with a complete gcc toolchain. For > those who prefer to pay money, I gather there is also an IAR toolchain - > I don't know how it compares in code generation quality. I use the AVR32 toolset from IAR. There has recently been a spurt of activity on their development with 2 major update releases in the last year. We went with this toolset primarily because we have been using the IAR tools on MSP430 and as a result we had a minimal learning curve when starting the AVR32 development. The quality of the code generated seems to be very good. There have not been any mis- compilations that we have found. When comparing with the ARM Cortex-M3 about a year ago the things that made us select the AVR were: 1 - The low power modes with RAM retention. These were much more comprehensive than those on the ARM. 2 - The dedicated I/O functions on the AVR32B were a better match to our requirements than any ARM version that we could find. 3 - The unit price was competitive with the equivalent ARM devices. Ian
From: Ulf Samuelsson on 1 Jun 2010 18:38
StoneThrower skrev: > Hi, > > Can someone (perhaps resident Atmel guru Ulf Samuelsson RSVP) arguably > explain how AVR32 is posioned against competition in terms of market > share and future "road map". I guess I'm asking for a kind of marketing > pitch to convince me that investing money in development tools and time > in learning them is a "good" investment in a long run, in contrast with > the same time/money dilema pertaining ARMs (therefore ***no*** PIC32 > dilema here). > If you look at it, your investment in tools is not that high. You get the S/W from Atmel for free so your investment will be for a development board and an emulator which will set you back some 100$s. If you get JTAGICE mk II and STK600, you can use them also for 8 bit AVRs. The JTAGICE Mk II can be picked up at eBay for ~$100. Each package will need a socket adapter for the STK600. If you go for the Evaluation Kits. the chip is soldered to the device, so that will be cheaper but chip specific. There will soon be a major new release of tools, merging 8 and 32 bit AVRs toolsets. UC3A0/1 - Networking/communication/Audio UC3A3 - Focus on Audio UC3B/D - General purpose Micro UC3C - Motor control with Event System and Floating Point. UC3L - Real low power The peripherals are the same as on the Atmel ARM7, ARM9 and Cortex-M3, so learning the peripherals will allow you to move between these chips with comparatively ease. With UC3L going into mobile phones as an accessory processor and the UC3B going into netbooks etc, the market share of these devices will be significant. The UC3A Audio solutions seems to rule the Apple Iphone adapter market Saw a cool new device for guitar tuning the other day. Previous devices allows you to tune one string at a time, The UC3 device in this unit, allows you to strike a chord of all 6 strings and analeze them together. Possible with UC3, but not with CM3. > I'm not asking for a ARM vs AVR32 technical dissection(s), although I > wouldn't mind, just some courage to jump into deep AVR32 waters.' They are not that deep. Get a local Atmel contact, and request some training material, and it should not be that hard. > I still have a kind of fobia regarding infamous Hitachi's > "6 months notice before EOL". > -- Best Regards Ulf Samuelsson These are my own personal opinions, which may or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB |