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General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

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Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#121

Post by buescher »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #63

I love it. I have noted this article for my talk about how CPUs are free. To appreciate that, you have to understand that when the first microcomputers came out engineers were still in "compute" mode[1], we were lectured that you wouldn't use a hard coded loop to check for a switch closure, you had to use interrupts because otherwise you were wasting all those CPU clocks . And computing at the time was often billed i…

You can tell the age of an embedded programmer by whether they consider sampling an input to be "polling" (which to me implies blocking, but that's another discussion) and then look for silver bullets for interrupt storms.

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#122

Post by ChuckMcM »

KANahas wrote: post #112
ChuckMcM wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree at all, this analysis is spot on. The size of discretes on silicon has not shrunk nearly as much as it has for transistors. However, where I am coming from is that because the transistors have shrunk so dramatically it becomes possible to put an entire CPU in the "left over" space after you've placed the discretes. There was a talk at either Hot Chips or ISSC in 2011? about a mixed mode chip where th…

The Cypress part family you are likely thinking of is the PSoC line, it’s a MCU mixed with very configurable analog front end.

Yeah that was what I was looking for, apparently it has an Infineon[1] part number now : https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/microcontroller/32-b... which is kind of cool.

[1] Apparently Infineon closed their acquisition of Cypress in 2020.

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#123

Post by ChuckMcM »

jacquesm wrote: post #115
ChuckMcM wrote: post #63

I love it. I have noted this article for my talk about how CPUs are free. To appreciate that, you have to understand that when the first microcomputers came out engineers were still in "compute" mode[1], we were lectured that you wouldn't use a hard coded loop to check for a switch closure, you had to use interrupts because otherwise you were wasting all those CPU clocks . And computing at the time was often billed i…

We're almost at (or are already at) the stage where the packaging of the chip costs more than the computer inside it.

I have had Microchip FEs say as much to me.

Will be interesting when chiplet technology gets to the point where multiple chips are installed in a plastic package (there are thermal expansion/contraction issues that make this a hard problem but still ...)

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#124

Post by graphe »

fragmede wrote: post #106
userbinator wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some people prefer the convenience of a disposable device I don't understand this. Instead of plugging it into a charger, they'd rather go to the store to buy another, or more likely order online and wait for it to be delivered?

it's the convenience. If they had the executive function to get them online, they would save money and get a reusable device instead.

I introduced a battery charger to a group of people that used disposable vapes and the knowhow to charge them. It changed the way they interacted with the vapes completely even saying funny high ideas like "we should patent this".

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#125

Post by jacquesm »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #123
jacquesm wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're almost at (or are already at) the stage where the packaging of the chip costs more than the computer inside it.

I have had Microchip FEs say as much to me. Will be interesting when chiplet technology gets to the point where multiple chips are installed in a plastic package (there are thermal expansion/contraction issues that make this a hard problem but still ...)

If and when the cooling problem is solved and we can just stack layers at will computronium will truly have arrived. Adding another dimension will unlock hardware potential that we can only dream of today.

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#126

Post by floating-io »

buescher wrote: post #121
ChuckMcM wrote: post #63

I love it. I have noted this article for my talk about how CPUs are free. To appreciate that, you have to understand that when the first microcomputers came out engineers were still in "compute" mode[1], we were lectured that you wouldn't use a hard coded loop to check for a switch closure, you had to use interrupts because otherwise you were wasting all those CPU clocks . And computing at the time was often billed i…

You can tell the age of an embedded programmer by whether they consider sampling an input to be "polling" (which to me implies blocking, but that's another discussion) and then look for silver bullets for interrupt storms.

Polling has never implied blocking. It’s actually a way to avoid blocking. I think you’re thinking of “busy-wait loops”.

The difference between “polling” and “busy wait” is whether or not the CPU is doing other unrelated things between samples.

The difference between polling and interrupts is that with interrupts the CPU can halt entirely while waiting rather than having to take those samples in the first place.

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#127

Post by fulladder »

graphe wrote: post #60
gambiting wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Ive known several people that died from candles That can't possibly be true - unless of them all died in the same accident?

Two incidents, two families. Happens a lot with Mexican candles.

I still don't believe it. Mexican candles? This is a technology from ancient times; why would a candle made in Mexico in 2024 be any different from an American or Chinese or wherever candle?

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#128

Post by drjasonharrison »

fulladder wrote: post #127
graphe wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two incidents, two families. Happens a lot with Mexican candles.

I still don't believe it. Mexican candles? This is a technology from ancient times; why would a candle made in Mexico in 2024 be any different from an American or Chinese or wherever candle?

Mexican candles probably aren't any different except they were involved in two fires the previous commenter was familiar with. Some cultures/religions use candles as part of their holiday observances.

https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/home-fire-safety...

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#129

Post by graphe »

fulladder wrote: post #127
graphe wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two incidents, two families. Happens a lot with Mexican candles.

I still don't believe it. Mexican candles? This is a technology from ancient times; why would a candle made in Mexico in 2024 be any different from an American or Chinese or wherever candle?

Mexican kids knock over the religious candles all the time. One tragic event happened when a friend's house was engulfed in flames after a candle was knocked into the curtains and she suffocated protecting her children from the smoke, I think one child had really bad breathing problems too.

Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker

#130

Post by bitwize »

Compute is so God-damn cheap these days that it often makes sense not to fabricate a custom ASIC, just emulate what the ASIC would do with a microcontroller. For example, in the case of people who build new, retro style computers, often a microcontroller or two are handling I/O to and from the peripherals like the screen and keyboard. Like there might be an Arduino or Pi Pico generating a VGA signal instead of a dedicated CRTC (because no one makes old-school CRTCs anymore). I just think that's wild, especially when the I/O controllers are more powerful than the main CPU itself (as might happen with a Z80-based system).
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