tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38908275.post7641016676523758499..comments2020-10-30T06:55:59.671-07:00Comments on More noise than signal: Actel SmartfusionSiliconFarmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11434681826272098792noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38908275.post-26610365321722562332010-08-17T10:57:49.947-07:002010-08-17T10:57:49.947-07:00One of the best summaries I've seen on the par...One of the best summaries I've seen on the part, including some really rare price information. Thank you!<br />Did you ever check out the PSoC5? It has less FPGA, rather PLD capabilities, IMHO better analog IP and the major tool PSoC Creator supports GNU, so it can all be free. For all I know, pricing is somewhat lower but it is also hard to find. I only heard about pricing through the grapevine.<br />It's going to be interesting how these two will be growing in the programmable SOC market<br />BobUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04223602886363355751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38908275.post-2757623867807895722010-07-21T20:19:23.603-07:002010-07-21T20:19:23.603-07:00Christian, thanks for the comments.
It is good to...Christian, thanks for the comments.<br /><br />It is good to hear that the larger device's cost doesn't go up linearly with the FPGA gates. <br /><br />I'm still looking forward to hearing the cost of the smaller device. In the past, I've used large FPGA's for prototyping ASICs, but I've gone to production with designs containing an MCU and a small FPGA.<br /><br />I've fixed the Actel/Atmel mixup in the text. Sorry about that!SiliconFarmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11434681826272098792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38908275.post-65318187233632753382010-07-13T21:21:24.127-07:002010-07-13T21:21:24.127-07:00Nice blog. Thanks for taking the time to relate yo...Nice blog. Thanks for taking the time to relate your first-hand experience with our SmartFusion. If I may, I'd like to add a few comments.<br /><br />Pricing: The $50 price point for an A2F200 is for unitary volume. High volume pricing is often much lower and is meant to compete with the pricing of a combined 32bit MCU and an equivalent FPGA. For the A2F500, it is not going to be 2.5x what the A2F200 is, unlike what the part number could lead you to believe. The FPGA section of the device is indeed 2.5x the size, but the MSS and Analog Front-End don't grow in a similar fashion. Thus, if you look at some of our distributors, it's more like 1.5x the price of an A2F200.<br /><br />Your comment about USB is well taken. We've heard it many times since we started engaging with customers. We're keeping this in mind for our next-gen devices.<br /><br />I've also made sure that our Silicon and Software Engineering teams read your comments about the device and software. It's very insightful and will help us improve the product and its ecosystem.<br /><br />One last detail. Many people often confuse Actel with Atmel (our bigger cousin). I think that's happened in one place in this blurb. <br /><br />Thanks again for drafting this up!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11173569449439242487noreply@blogger.com