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ARM Cortex - Propeller — Parallax Forums

ARM Cortex - Propeller

BatangBatang Posts: 234
edited 2010-11-03 09:14 in Propeller 1
How does the Propeller compare to an ARM Cortex 3 (NXP)?

I.e. is there any advantage?

Comments

  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-10-28 04:07
    It depends on the application. What were you thinking of doing?
  • BatangBatang Posts: 234
    edited 2010-10-28 04:19
    Embedded controller doing a lot of FP math.
  • pgbpsupgbpsu Posts: 460
    edited 2010-10-28 07:19
    @Batang-

    The propeller doesn't have a "built-in" FPU although there are objects written that can do floating point math. I don't think doing a lot of floating point math on the propeller is a problem. Doing it fast enough might be. I've worked hard to use integer math on the prop so I can't really speak from experience.

    I know nothing about the ARM chip you mentioned. I suspect if it has an FPU it will be faster. But that's only a guess.

    p
  • ericballericball Posts: 774
    edited 2010-10-28 08:06
    From a quick scan of the datasheet, the Cortex-M3 doesn't have an FPU. It does have an optional MMU (so probably has a traditional memory bus, which the Propeller lacks) and it's ALU has both multiply and divide instructions.

    However, the advantage of the Propeller is, and always has been, the onboard multi processor architecture which allows processors to be dedicated to tasks and truely deterministic behaviour.
  • K2K2 Posts: 693
    edited 2010-10-28 08:08
    Batang,

    With almost any little embedded controller, FP comes in the form of libraries. The Cortex M3 is no exception. It does have a nice integer multiplier, though, that would assist such a library.

    If you are doing real-world control with exacting timing requirements, by all means use the Prop. If you're doing mostly math, and you'd like to do it in C, it's hard to beat the LPC 13xx and 17xx families. (Code_red, btw, is outstanding.)

    A combination of a Prop and an LPC1768 would be unbeatable.
  • BatangBatang Posts: 234
    edited 2010-11-03 08:41
    Has anyone have or done any comparisons between the catalina c compiler and the imagecraft one or which is the preferred one for propeller development.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-11-03 09:14
    You should start a new thread for a question like that. It has nothing to do with the original topic.
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