non-x86 multicore - Re: CPU monoculture

On 02/20/2012 08:34 PM, Alexey Toptygin wrote: Well I am in this case; I'm using an ARM7. The point you're missing here (said with respect) is the same point that took me a while to "get", in the context of the GA chips in particular. I spent a long time looking at the datasheets for the GA144, thinking about it in the context of an embedded application, and complaining to myself about the lack of on-chip peripherals like SPI and I2C controllers, UARTs, etc. Then it dawned on me: I had 144 very simple cores that are VERY cheap, less than fourteen cents apiece at the single-unit quantity price: implement a bit-banged SPI controller in one of those cores! Ordinarily I'd frown on such an approach, as I usually have better things for the processor to be doing than managing bit timings, but this chip, at $20/ea, has 144 cores...I can dedicate one (or ten!!) to creating SPI interfaces or being UARTs. It's "general purpose hardware" taken to a different level. In this case, it's not all about distributing "processes" across multiple processors, but "functionality", where some of those functionalities might be implemented in purpose-built, rather than general-purpose hardware on more traditional microcontroller designs. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA