7 ms·

In case the link is down: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.xess.com/blog/extinction-level-event/ http://webcache.googleuserconte

by kqr2 10y ago

In case the link is down: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.xess.com/blog/extinction-level-event/ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://... Also, I believe that cheap microcontrollers have been able to replace FPGAs in some cases.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago
Cheap microcontrollers can replace old CPLDs, which now are technically FPGAs but really don't have much of a place in modern hardware. They can also replace FPGAs because even small microcontrollers are now really systems-on-a-chip, with integrated SPI, CAN, LVDS, or even USB/transceivers. To me, that's more like replacing an FPGA with dedicated hardware - it's just that microcontroller peripheral options are so thorough that dedicated hardware no longer needs to be custom.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  It's mixed. You can spin a fast loop in a PIC @ 1,2, 4 or 8 MSPS, and that eats into FPGA territory. USB is uniformly terrible; multi-PHY CAN offerings are disappearing. SPI can be good if you have the right interface chip ( which you may or may not actually know until you're running against a prototype ). LVDS looks interesting, but it seems to have been a lot supplanted by SPI/I2C and Ethernet. I dunno; it's just different. Phones have warped the market in puzzling ways.
  - justaaron 10y ago
    spot-on re USB = terrible (for typical embedded usage- derived clock, latency, fancy software/hardware stack support requirements. hardly a simple interface. not worthy of universality) and of course, it's because of the phone SOC market... basically the entire high-end of embedded has been taken-over by poorly-built linux distros running on phone SOC reference board designs... as much as i'd love to support the 96boards effort, they are pushing us all into using USB for things like audio codecs... (i'll take TDM'ed I2S anytime, as at least there is a real bitclock as well as a frameclock, directly wiggled chipside...)
    - ArkyBeagle 10y ago
      I use an inexpensive USB audio interface daily, and that part isn't bad at all. I'm able lto run two DAW against it; one for cue mix with VST plugins and another for recording. If you're careful with part selection and systems engineering on the host side, it works extremely well. I'm also loath to throw too many rocks at the SOC boards - they make fine prototypes that can then be adapted to something more appropriate.

by kqr2 10y ago

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

Cheap microcontrollers can replace old CPLDs, which now are technically FPGAs but really don't have much of a place in modern hardware. They can also replace FPGAs because even small microcontrollers are now really systems-on-a-chip, with integrated SPI, CAN, LVDS, or even USB/transceivers. To me, that's more like replacing an FPGA with dedicated hardware - it's just that microcontroller peripheral options are so thorough that dedicated hardware no longer needs to be custom.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago
It's mixed. You can spin a fast loop in a PIC @ 1,2, 4 or 8 MSPS, and that eats into FPGA territory. USB is uniformly terrible; multi-PHY CAN offerings are disappearing. SPI can be good if you have the right interface chip ( which you may or may not actually know until you're running against a prototype ). LVDS looks interesting, but it seems to have been a lot supplanted by SPI/I2C and Ethernet. I dunno; it's just different. Phones have warped the market in puzzling ways.
- justaaron 10y ago
  spot-on re USB = terrible (for typical embedded usage- derived clock, latency, fancy software/hardware stack support requirements. hardly a simple interface. not worthy of universality) and of course, it's because of the phone SOC market... basically the entire high-end of embedded has been taken-over by poorly-built linux distros running on phone SOC reference board designs... as much as i'd love to support the 96boards effort, they are pushing us all into using USB for things like audio codecs... (i'll take TDM'ed I2S anytime, as at least there is a real bitclock as well as a frameclock, directly wiggled chipside...)
  - ArkyBeagle 10y ago
    I use an inexpensive USB audio interface daily, and that part isn't bad at all. I'm able lto run two DAW against it; one for cue mix with VST plugins and another for recording. If you're careful with part selection and systems engineering on the host side, it works extremely well. I'm also loath to throw too many rocks at the SOC boards - they make fine prototypes that can then be adapted to something more appropriate.