In SX Microcontrollers, SX/B Compiler and SX-Key Tool, davehein wrote:

[quote="Mike Green"]
Dave,
Once Parallax runs out of SX chips they will certainly not be out of the microcontroller business. There may be many applications where the SX may be very well matched to the application, that doesn't make it the only chip suitable for the application. The Propeller is an excellent chip for many applications where the SX may be a cheaper alternative. It may not be what you want and that's ok. Some users of the SX may migrate to PIC chips or AVR chips or whatever. Some may migrate to the Propeller. Parallax will continue to provide unusually excellent support of their products like the Propeller and you will see other tools for Propeller development that will make what's already easy development even easier (like Hanno's graphical programming tool and Bean and JonnyMac's SX/B-like compiler).

I have no way of knowing for sure, but I suspect that the Propeller I's cost will continue to decrease over time, maybe not quite as cheap as the SX, but cheaper than it is now.

Personally, I think it would be a mistake for Parallax to try to support the PICs. They're complex chips, require a lot of support, particularly for beginners, and Parallax would get very very little for their effort and expense in a market where the competition is so great and the margins are so little.[/quote]Mike,
 

I knew that statement would raise objections when I hit the submit button.  What I should have said is that without the SX, Parallax will be out of the [b]low-cost[/b] [b]small-size[/b] microcontroller business.  I hope I put enough qualifiers on it this time.  The Prop cannot compete against PIC chips for low cost and small size.

 

I did a project a few months ago where I build a test stand to measure the thrust of rocket motors.  I needed to generate a 2 KHz square wave and its complement to drive the strain gauge.  I could have used a 555 timer with a few resistors and caps and a flipflop.  However, the SX did the same job with much fewer parts and less soldering.  I hate soldering.  A description of the test stand is located at [url=http://home.swbell.net/davehein/teststand.html]http://home.swbell.net/davehein/teststand.html[/url] .

 

I could have use a Prop chip for this project, but that would have been a poorer choice than going the 555 route.  The SX was the perfect choice.  You may notice in my shcematic that I used the 18-pin SX chip.  I still have a few more of those chips.  Actually, once I run out of those I'll probably have to switch to PIC chips.  Even the 28-pin SX is a bit large for many of my applications.

 

Dave

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