At 06:17 5/08/99 +0200, you wrote:
>Tom Handley wrote:
>>
>> re: Fairchild ACE comments from Eric, Tjaart, and Dmitry
>>
>>    Well, just to make an `absolute fool' of myself... A local rep who
>I somehow doubt that :)
>
>> normally provides me with Lattice Semiconductor and Dallas Semiconductor
>> data and samples, recently asked me take a look at the Fairchild ACE line.
>> My recommendation was that it is not suitable as a replacement for the PIC
>> in similar applications. I went on to say that the 68x, PIC, AVR, Z8x, and
>> 80x processors dominated this market in the USA.
>>
>>    My question to you folks (whom I have the greatest of respect), is what,
>> in the ACE product line, would motivate you to commit to new development
>> tools and how much `faith' do you have in Fairchild's commitment? While
>> Fairchild is `legend', in recent years, it has been `tossed around'. They
>> certainly have access to production capacity but what if they run into
>> financial trouble? I'd suspect, ACE would go before logic...
>
>Both models look good. The 1k device could actually replace
>a 16C505 that I have just designed into a product. The only
>thing keeping me from changing is the price. The 16C505 OTP
>is *slightly* cheaper than the Flash ACE. The code will be
>simple, so I don't foresee changes to it.
>
>I saw this device this week for the first time, so I haven't
>had the chance to give it the time it deserves. It seems
>the stack is 8 deep, and that you can actually get to it.
>Nice. The current consumption is also good.
>
>I've heard a birdie whistle about nice dev tools for these
>new low-end devices. I don't know anything more. I do know
>that the chances of me spending on new dev tools for Mchip
>are, uuuhm, slim.
>
>As to the question of them being tossed around, they listed
>this month, they will probably push very hard to sell devices.
>I am hoping for a price war. CHeck out the announcement :
>http://www.fairchildsemi.com/news/1999/9908/ipoannounce.html
>
>--
>Friendly Regards           /"\
>                           \ /
>Tjaart van der Walt         X ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN
>mailto:tjaart@XXXXXXXXXXXX / \ AGAINST HTML MAIL




It would seem that there may be a price war soon on the cost of silicon,
but to many of us the development tools are what decides if we use a device
or not. In the past it has taken long periods of time before "Stable" and
usable development tools that provide a "Reasonable" time to market
solution has been provided. We all await for this situation.

I have been taking a good look into the TI range with the MSP430 range of
controllers. Yes the instruction cycle is slow (200nS @ 5MHz) but the
current consumption is low and the tools are great. Ah JTAG development is
great, and the chip cost well TI quote around $1 for a ROM version, but
that is not for me...

Dennis