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From: Nial Stewart on 28 Jun 2010 10:43 > Without revealing anything proprietary, can you help me > understand the advantages of these high performance > FPGAs in electronic ballast design? I'm also struggling > to imagine a role for the ADC. > Could you point out the location of these parts in the > diagram for me please? Before you get all sarcastic, did you read the other link in Dave Jones' original post? Nial.
From: Winston on 28 Jun 2010 18:10 On 6/28/2010 7:43 AM, Nial Stewart wrote: >> Without revealing anything proprietary, can you help me >> understand the advantages of these high performance >> FPGAs in electronic ballast design? I'm also struggling >> to imagine a role for the ADC. >> Could you point out the location of these parts in the >> diagram for me please? > > > Before you get all sarcastic, did you read the other link in > Dave Jones' original post? I apologize for my excessive snark; I was surprised by the 'subject drift'. The article mentions memory chips, transistors, resistors and capacitors. No mention of high performance, single source FPGAs, which aren't quite the 'commodity' (multiple source) parts exemplified by memory chips, transistors, resistors and capacitors. I expect that parts manufacturers are just angling for higher prices. We'll pay, because China Inc. is the only source. For the right money, that 12 month commodity lead time would magically shrink to nearly nothing. It's the second oldest game in the world. --Winston
From: Nial Stewart on 29 Jun 2010 03:47 >> Before you get all sarcastic, did you read the other link in >> Dave Jones' original post? > > I apologize for my excessive snark; I was surprised by the > 'subject drift'. No problem :-) > The article mentions memory chips, transistors, resistors and > capacitors. > No mention of high performance, single source FPGAs, > which aren't quite the 'commodity' (multiple source) parts > exemplified by memory chips, transistors, resistors and capacitors. No fair enough, but in the last 15 years once Altera devices have been released they have generally been easy to get hold of. I know the FAE I'm dealing with very well and believe him when he said that they had to scour the EBV European stocks to provide 4 samples for prototyping. Analog showed no stock on the web site. Customer support in the States said they didn't have any of the ADCs, and all their distributors were out too. Both firms are quoting three or four months lead time. > I expect that parts manufacturers are just angling for > higher prices. We'll pay, because China Inc. is the only > source. > For the right money, that 12 month commodity lead time would > magically shrink to nearly nothing. > It's the second oldest game in the world. I'm not sure, the Altera FAE was genuinely frustrated. He said the only thing saving their bacon is that Xilinx are in nearly the same position. Nial.
From: Winston on 29 Jun 2010 10:05 On 6/29/2010 12:47 AM, Nial Stewart wrote: (...) > No fair enough, but in the last 15 years once Altera devices have been > released they have generally been easy to get hold of. Still 'single sourced' 'non-commodity' parts, yes? (...) > Both firms are quoting three or four months lead time. I would love to know the 'back story'! How is it even *possible* to have that kind of backlog in 2010 unless they discovered a significant design flaw and are re-spinning? (...) (WRT 'commodity parts':) >> For the right money, that 12 month commodity lead time would >> magically shrink to nearly nothing. >> It's the second oldest game in the world. > > I'm not sure, the Altera FAE was genuinely frustrated. He said > the only thing saving their bacon is that Xilinx are in nearly > the same position. I've been out of the game for a long time but I still wonder: Is his response 'code' for "re-design using Lattice, Actel, Cypress, Quicklogic, Silicon Blue, Achronix, etc."? --Winston
From: Joerg on 29 Jun 2010 13:13
Winston wrote: > On 6/29/2010 12:47 AM, Nial Stewart wrote: > [...] > (WRT 'commodity parts':) >>> For the right money, that 12 month commodity lead time would >>> magically shrink to nearly nothing. >>> It's the second oldest game in the world. >> >> I'm not sure, the Altera FAE was genuinely frustrated. He said >> the only thing saving their bacon is that Xilinx are in nearly >> the same position. > > I've been out of the game for a long time but I still wonder: > Is his response 'code' for "re-design using Lattice, Actel, > Cypress, Quicklogic, Silicon Blue, Achronix, etc."? > The real message is: Try your darndest to design it with discretes, simple logic chips, maybe 80C51 and whatever else is needed. No more FPGA. Which is what I generally do, then there are half a dozen sources and never a shortage :-) I know this sounds kind of Luddite but it has served my clients quite well. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM. |