I'm wondering how come this thread is now tagged as "solved"?
Did it turn out that the Prop isn't "too little, too late"? In my mind everything always is.
Was there even a problem to solve in the first place?
Considering that the alternative to the Propeller is to buy 8 32bit micro-controllers and wire them up in parallel, this is rather absurd. And there is still nothing simple out there for color video that comes close to it.
Of course, if you are comparing micro-controllers by the length and complexity of their specification sheets, the Propeller is likely to loose. Other documents stretch into 100s of pages. But real builders and real programmers and real students do appreciate what the Propeller brings to the table.
In one word it is 'innovation'.
I though little was a good thing in micro-technology.
That's rubbish! A single 32-bit MCU such as an ARM chip or a PIC32 will outperform a Propeller on many applications, and will be a lot cheaper, as well having a lot of other advantages.
That's rubbish! A single prop will outperform a 32-bit MCU such as an ARM chip or a PIC32 on many applications, and will be a lot cheaper, as well having a lot of other advantages.
Which statement is true? Which stat8ment is NOT true?
So are you saying that in NO cases will the prop be a better choice? That in ALL cases an ARM Cortex-M3 with High-Speed USB, or the dual-processor Cortex-M4 with a DSP on the same chip, will ALWAYS be a better choice than the prop? I'm not nearly as experienced as you or other members, but this does not sound correct to me. Or are you just trolling for sport?
When you want a "I/O" micro-controller then the Prop is probably the best there is in terms of performance and flexibility. But if you want high-end peripherals such as USB, Ethernet etc along with a large memory space for big applications and so on then the Prop is a very poor choice in this regard.
You can press a PIC or an 8051 (or AVR) into service with USB and Ethernet but they are not in or nowhere near the same class as the ARM chips for instance. Conversely, the ARM cannot do what the Prop does. You must remember that each of the Prop's 32-bit CPUs are hobbled somewhat in that they only have 512 words of local memory and very little else, plus no way of being expanded.
A cog cannot directly execute code from hub RAM plus it's slow to access anyway so don't go counting it as part of a cog. But it's great that each cog can become a soft-peripheral or even a virtual-machine (Spin Interpreter) and along with having all I/O ports in common makes the Prop unbeatable for a lot of "micro-controller" applications. I love it, but an ARM it ain't. I know a lot of guys are having fun trying to get the Prop to be some kind of super-computer or desktop machine but it never will be and was never designed to be either.
P.S. Even many ARMs are classed as Micro-controllers but their architecture allows direct large memory access, DMA, interrupts, etc plus with the amount of peripherals on-board they are more like SOCs (System on a Chip)
You need to carefully read Leon's posts. They are almost always accurate, but worded in a way to encite emotional responses from people who like the Prop. His statement
That's rubbish! A single 32-bit MCU such as an ARM chip or a PIC32 will outperform a Propeller on many applications, and will be a lot cheaper, as well having a lot of other advantages.
Is accurate, but so is the statement
That's rubbish! A Propeller will outperform a single 32-bit MCU such as an ARM chip or a PIC32 on many applications, and will be a lot cheaper, as well having a lot of other advantages.
It depends on the application whether a Propeller is a better choice than an ARM or PIC32. For some reason Leon prefers to play the part of a contrarian on this forum rather than using a posting technique that would be a bit more agreeable.
I removed the 'SOLVED' Prefix from this thread as it was inaccurate and misleading. I also attempted to remove some of the argumentative messages in an attempt to keep this from becoming a flame war, however message quoting has rendered that moot. Really at this point there is nothing left to do but lock this thread and let it be. This person (OP) obviously did not find what he wanted in our product. Not everyone will. We're here to help those who would like our help. We can't bring the OP back by debating the point of this, obviously pointless thread. Sorry folks, I am closing it.
Comments
Did it turn out that the Prop isn't "too little, too late"? In my mind everything always is.
Was there even a problem to solve in the first place?
Of course, if you are comparing micro-controllers by the length and complexity of their specification sheets, the Propeller is likely to loose. Other documents stretch into 100s of pages. But real builders and real programmers and real students do appreciate what the Propeller brings to the table.
In one word it is 'innovation'.
I though little was a good thing in micro-technology.
That's rubbish! A single prop will outperform a 32-bit MCU such as an ARM chip or a PIC32 on many applications, and will be a lot cheaper, as well having a lot of other advantages.
Which statement is true? Which stat8ment is NOT true?
You can press a PIC or an 8051 (or AVR) into service with USB and Ethernet but they are not in or nowhere near the same class as the ARM chips for instance. Conversely, the ARM cannot do what the Prop does. You must remember that each of the Prop's 32-bit CPUs are hobbled somewhat in that they only have 512 words of local memory and very little else, plus no way of being expanded.
A cog cannot directly execute code from hub RAM plus it's slow to access anyway so don't go counting it as part of a cog. But it's great that each cog can become a soft-peripheral or even a virtual-machine (Spin Interpreter) and along with having all I/O ports in common makes the Prop unbeatable for a lot of "micro-controller" applications. I love it, but an ARM it ain't. I know a lot of guys are having fun trying to get the Prop to be some kind of super-computer or desktop machine but it never will be and was never designed to be either.
P.S. Even many ARMs are classed as Micro-controllers but their architecture allows direct large memory access, DMA, interrupts, etc plus with the amount of peripherals on-board they are more like SOCs (System on a Chip)
You need to carefully read Leon's posts. They are almost always accurate, but worded in a way to encite emotional responses from people who like the Prop. His statement Is accurate, but so is the statement It depends on the application whether a Propeller is a better choice than an ARM or PIC32. For some reason Leon prefers to play the part of a contrarian on this forum rather than using a posting technique that would be a bit more agreeable.