Chip is giving a nice run down on the state of Prop II right now. Looking good! More than 128Kb ram Cluso! Maybe 192Kb. No ROM, but for a boot loader. More later, and probably you are watching, but I thought I would mention that, as a few of us were concerned about it.
The Prop II talk is on the streaming site. No worries. I think you will enjoy a lot of what you hear.
Nobody asked about auto index. I would have, had I made it. But, the FIFO was discussed, and it's use as a stack, or temp storage space, in addition to being a color lookup look good. A request was made for auto-decrement and increment. I think only one was done. YCbCr is in there too. That was one I was looking for, because that format is on nearly every HDTV, and the color space is good. Lots 'o goodies, and some insight into the design approach changes, and their impact on timelines...
Have fun. I may watch it again too. Didn't get to see it all the first time.
Rom reduced to just a bootloader (and code protection)
Hub ram now expected to be 192KB
CLUT table 128x32 can be used as fifo (Chip will add a pop instruction). Also can be used as a store but not as S or D in an instruction. Big help for code
Roms in each cog for cordic, sin etc
120MHz operation (not 160MHz)
Best case 3 mths for chips; Maybe $10-$12 per chip.
In the Prop I there are about 30 transistors per I/O pin. Prop II has about 6,700 per I/O pin. Loads of features.
Rayman, the CLUT can be used as 32bits per entry (so 128 colors when in this mode), and we had 24bit color with 8bit alpha working on the FPGA board. You can also use the CLUT in a 16bit per entry mode with a 1bit alpha & 5bits each for RGB format and have 256 colors when doing that.
I have corrected my CLUT size error (typo because I knew it was 32b wide).
Hey, that is great that it can also do 256 @ 16bits.
It is really fantastic that Chip & co are sharing and discussing the design. We all get to put forward some ideas and some of them are fantastic and will make the prop so much better. We all benefit from this openness which begs the question... how come it is only Parallax that does this - guess its why we are here hey!
I was interested to here from Chip that the small geometries being used for some new processors (not the PropII) only have a chip life of 10 years because the metal flows, produces holes, etc etc until something fails. Planned obsolescence
I never knew this. Noone is saying that a lot of electronics we are buying now will not last. Just looking around here and seeing lots of gear over 10 years old. Also brings a new meaning to shelf life too.
I was interested to here from Chip that the small geometries being used for some new processors (not the PropII) only have a chip life of 10 years because the metal flows, produces holes, etc etc until something fails. Planned obsolescence
And stressing a design beyond specifications just makes it worse.
I was interested to here from Chip that the small geometries being used for some new processors (not the PropII) only have a chip life of 10 years because the metal flows, produces holes, etc etc until something fails. Planned obsolescence
I never knew this. Noone is saying that a lot of electronics we are buying now will not last. Just looking around here and seeing lots of gear over 10 years old. Also brings a new meaning to shelf life too.
There is really something wrong with that... I hope the manufacturers that use those parts add some notes and disclose the fact that it is a disposible item and won't last more than ten years.
I knew that much of the flash memory would evemtually wear out and where ever I use that I try to keep it in a socket for ease of replacement. Hearing that many of the regular chips comming out may be expected/designed to fail as well is news to me. I guess in ten years from now when many of the new chips are dying that I'll still have some old Z-80's, 6502's, 6808's, etc still running. I have some that are 30+ years old and still running.....
Comments
Chip is giving a nice run down on the state of Prop II right now. Looking good! More than 128Kb ram Cluso! Maybe 192Kb. No ROM, but for a boot loader. More later, and probably you are watching, but I thought I would mention that, as a few of us were concerned about it.
Wow... just looking now
Nobody asked about auto index. I would have, had I made it. But, the FIFO was discussed, and it's use as a stack, or temp storage space, in addition to being a color lookup look good. A request was made for auto-decrement and increment. I think only one was done. YCbCr is in there too. That was one I was looking for, because that format is on nearly every HDTV, and the color space is good. Lots 'o goodies, and some insight into the design approach changes, and their impact on timelines...
Have fun. I may watch it again too. Didn't get to see it all the first time.
Rough audio, but worth it. It's the "state of Prop II" discussion, with some Q&A, hosted by Chip, and Beau, driving the big Linux box.
Rom reduced to just a bootloader (and code protection)
Hub ram now expected to be 192KB
CLUT table 128x32 can be used as fifo (Chip will add a pop instruction). Also can be used as a store but not as S or D in an instruction. Big help for code
Roms in each cog for cordic, sin etc
120MHz operation (not 160MHz)
Best case 3 mths for chips; Maybe $10-$12 per chip.
In the Prop I there are about 30 transistors per I/O pin. Prop II has about 6,700 per I/O pin. Loads of features.
Plus, you could imagine 256 color OS display mode...
128 colors is a little strange. I don't think it'd be as useful for photos...
Hey, that is great that it can also do 256 @ 16bits.
It is really fantastic that Chip & co are sharing and discussing the design. We all get to put forward some ideas and some of them are fantastic and will make the prop so much better. We all benefit from this openness which begs the question... how come it is only Parallax that does this - guess its why we are here hey!
I was interested to here from Chip that the small geometries being used for some new processors (not the PropII) only have a chip life of 10 years because the metal flows, produces holes, etc etc until something fails. Planned obsolescence
I never knew this. Noone is saying that a lot of electronics we are buying now will not last. Just looking around here and seeing lots of gear over 10 years old. Also brings a new meaning to shelf life too.
There is really something wrong with that... I hope the manufacturers that use those parts add some notes and disclose the fact that it is a disposible item and won't last more than ten years.
I knew that much of the flash memory would evemtually wear out and where ever I use that I try to keep it in a socket for ease of replacement. Hearing that many of the regular chips comming out may be expected/designed to fail as well is news to me. I guess in ten years from now when many of the new chips are dying that I'll still have some old Z-80's, 6502's, 6808's, etc still running. I have some that are 30+ years old and still running.....