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> AFIACT MIPS actively offers their cores for embedding in MCUs, like ARM. Not anymore that I'm aware of. They laid off most (possibly all?) of their architect
by duskwuff 3y ago
> AFIACT MIPS actively offers their cores for embedding in MCUs, like ARM.
Not anymore that I'm aware of. They laid off most (possibly all?) of their architectural engineers around 2020 and sold off the remaining rights to a Chinese firm.
There's still a few MIPS-based MCUs out there, like PIC32, but they're a dying breed. ARM Cortex-M is much better suited to these applications.
> I frankly wonder what prevented 680x0 from getting into widespread MCUs.
Poor IPC, high interrupt latency. The weird mixed 16/32-bit nature of the 68000 made it easier to implement a microcomputer with (since you only needed 16-bit RAM/ROM), but would only get in the way in a microcontroller (where memory would mostly, if not entirely, be internal). It's a shame; I liked the ISA, but the performance just isn't there.
- withinboredom 3y ago> ARM Cortex-M I almost did a prank post when Apple came out with/announced the M1. I had recently had tore down my broken PSVR which has the very nicely stamped ARM M1 in it. I wanted to post something like "Apple didn't invent it, Sony did!" Regretfully, I did not.
- duskwuff 3y ago> I had recently had tore down my broken PSVR which has the very nicely stamped ARM M1 in it. I don't think that's correct. The Cortex-M1 is an soft-core-only design; there's no hardware implementation. (And moreover, the ARM cores used aren't usually part of the external markings on a chip.) What chip were you looking at? I don't see anything which looks like that in the iFixit teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation+VR+Teardown/69341 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation+VR+Teardown/6934...
- withinboredom 3y agoI was really hoping to still have the boards, or at least a picture. I could find neither. It was a gen1 model, so it didn't look anything like those photos on that teardown.