21–30 of 70 posts
FTA: “One cheaper version would fit into a 40-pin package. This version would have its memory address sizes limited to 16-bits and so would only be able to use 64 KB of memory. A more expensive 48-pin version would have access to a 23-bit or 8 MB address space. To support this approach, the architecture would be based on segmented addresses.” I don’t see how that follows, given the example of the 6507. https://en.wik…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The latest round of STM32G0 is about $1 in quoted price before you start haggling. TI is launching a $0.40 (!) ARM micro soon. A modern toolchain, an ALU that doesn't suck, and a ton of ecosystem support are genuine improvements over z80. It's just the new default in the same way that z80 was a default (though less so, I grant). And I say this as someone who still knows z80 opcodes from high school programming TI cal…
>TI is launching a $0.40 (!) ARM micro soon. [...] It's just the new default in the same way that z80 was a default. And yet many cheap electronic devices will continue to be built and sold with 4-bit microcontrollers because 32 bit is overkill for those use cases and $0.40 is too expensive when 4-bit dies cost $0.05 or even $0.01, and $0.35 in savings is huge in high enough volume. You won't see any new products dev…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>TI is launching a $0.40 (!) ARM micro soon. [...] It's just the new default in the same way that z80 was a default. And yet many cheap electronic devices will continue to be built and sold with 4-bit microcontrollers because 32 bit is overkill for those use cases and $0.40 is too expensive when 4-bit dies cost $0.05 or even $0.01, and $0.35 in savings is huge in high enough volume. You won't see any new products dev…
Out of curiosity what’s the cheapest microcontroller die you’ve come across? It would be interesting to know what you get at the lowest possible price point.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of curiosity what’s the cheapest microcontroller die you’ve come across? It would be interesting to know what you get at the lowest possible price point.
The cheapest mask ROM microcontrollers you can't buy from distributors but only directly from the manufacturer and in large volumes they can be a couple of cents since you buy the dies and package it yourself directly on the PCB under the classic black blob of resin you see in watches/calculators and other cheap dollar store widgets.
From the wiki link of the z8000 there is a curious bit of Commodore history I never knew of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_900 C. had a pretty good deal with zilog, but they pissed it away for maybe not very good reasons.... Had things gone different C900 and the like might've been there instead of the Amiga.
Thanks for mentioning that! I had an Amiga in the early nineties and consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to Commodore history, but wasn't aware of this machine either. The article doesn't mention why the C900 was cancelled, but I guess Commodore was afraid to go up against IBM with a purely business-oriented machine? So they did what many other big companies have done since: bought up a startup to get…
My guess would be that it was caused by Commodore and Atari swapping senior people.
I have so much moe for the various post-Z80 chips Zilog made that people think failed in the marketplace but are still around and perfectly viable for applications that don't need 32-bit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilog_eZ80 But the thing is that you keep getting dragged kicking and screaming to ARM because even if it is boring it is capable, affordable and everywhere.
The latest round of STM32G0 is about $1 in quoted price before you start haggling. TI is launching a $0.40 (!) ARM micro soon. A modern toolchain, an ALU that doesn't suck, and a ton of ecosystem support are genuine improvements over z80. It's just the new default in the same way that z80 was a default (though less so, I grant). And I say this as someone who still knows z80 opcodes from high school programming TI cal…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cheapest mask ROM microcontrollers you can't buy from distributors but only directly from the manufacturer and in large volumes they can be a couple of cents since you buy the dies and package it yourself directly on the PCB under the classic black blob of resin you see in watches/calculators and other cheap dollar store widgets.
Thanks! Do you know what you’d get for that couple of cents?
I have so much moe for the various post-Z80 chips Zilog made that people think failed in the marketplace but are still around and perfectly viable for applications that don't need 32-bit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilog_eZ80 But the thing is that you keep getting dragged kicking and screaming to ARM because even if it is boring it is capable, affordable and everywhere.
> I have so much moe I had to look it up, from urbandictionary.com: also written as moé. A Japanese slang term (ironically, first employed by otaku) used to refer to the fetish for or sexual attraction to idealized people, usually a fictional perfect young girl. Since then, moé has come to be used as a general term for a hobby, mania or fetish (non-sexual or otherwise). This is contrasted with otaku, which would be t…
There was an earlier, and to my way of thinking, much better idea at Zilog than the Z8000. That was the Z280 (later christened the Z800) it was a 16 bit machine akin to the 8086 but with upward compatibility with the Z80 and a much nicer architecture. I believe that Godbout made and S-100 card with this processor at one time. I wanted one so badly and yet the 8088 and the IBM-PC steamrolled the industry because "big…
Is anybody on HN aware of S100 systems used in production today?
There was an earlier, and to my way of thinking, much better idea at Zilog than the Z8000. That was the Z280 (later christened the Z800) it was a 16 bit machine akin to the 8086 but with upward compatibility with the Z80 and a much nicer architecture. I believe that Godbout made and S-100 card with this processor at one time. I wanted one so badly and yet the 8088 and the IBM-PC steamrolled the industry because "big…