26 Feb
2008
26 Feb
'08
3:41 p.m.
On 26 Feb 2008 at 16:14, woodelf wrote:
I question the over head ... with all the design
software closed source
I bet Mr Gates has control of I guess 75% of your hardware product.
Eh? I use open-source development systems with both PIC and AVR.
Tony reminds me a bit of Bob Pease (who writes the analog column for
"Electronic Design"). When, on occasion, someone points out that a
simple microcontroller would satisfy the problem he's discussing, the
response is "I don't do software".
Bob might even recoil at Tony's suggestion of digital one-shots. If
you can't do it with op amps and comparators, Bob's generally not
interested.
Things are getting to the point where uCs even beat discrete logic in
the area of power consumption. TI's MSP430 16-bit uC, for example
draws a mere 250 microamps at 3 volts in active mode; 0.8 microamps
will keep the real-time clock going and 0.1 microamp will keep the
RAM intact.
Cheers,
Chuck