$52B for American chip manufacturing and research?
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,395
in Propeller 2
Pick us, pick us!
Seriously, how does a small company like Parallax gain access to such an opportunity?
Ken Gracey
Comments
Get it into products Americans really care about.
Donate to a senator?
Ok, that’s a joke (sorta).
But emails to elected officials might get u on radar...
When you try to email your senator's office without your sales and marketing hat on, what response do you get?
Subject: Chip Shortage bill #####
Blah blah blah we're a longtime established educational materials provider and fabless microchip manufacturer based entirely in Rocklin, CA. We're interested in US Senate bill whatever and how we can together address the chip shortage by increasing domestic manufacturing capacity and supply chips to blah blah blah.
My tone might be quite aloof, but simple is better. My presupposition is that a sales brochure would instantly lose the intern's attention.
Medical equipment, aerospace, and automobiles.
Ken Gracey
I'm going to find out. I'll try a simple approach.
This bill hasn't passed yet, but I assume it will include some kind of clarity about how to be part of the program (but maybe not).
Ken
Right, unfortunately. Follow the money.
Ken Gracey
Your district representative (Tom McClintock) might be a better choice for first contact. His constituency is smaller and more uniform as compared to that of a senator, and he can be more focused on your particular needs. A California senator has to represent the whole state: the movie industry, aerospace industry, semiconductor industry, farming interests, etc. Best to be as big a fish as you can by picking a smaller pond.
You might even invite Rep. McClintock to your offices the next time he visits your district.
-Phil
The clarification (assuming some connections):
Distribution of cash ratio will be 1000:1, politicians:Ken and everyone else... That one repaid with usurious rates for failing impossible performance factors converting the grant to a loan.
Perhaps using corp taxes/gimmes (read bribes) to get the fab houses to invest here, just like cities and states (or Ireland) do for markets they want to encourage to locate there.
I've met him in Washington D.C. and he showed us around his office at the Capitol. I'm sure he doesn't remember me or the family, though.
This will be the third time I've contacted McClintock and I'll take your suggestion of inviting him to our office and getting a sushi lunch with Chip (hmm, is that last part a good idea?).
Ken Gracey
Ken: Take a look at Sec 2106 of the USICA. I think this would be Parallax’s best shot at getting funding, as it leverages your existing investments and penetration in the STEM and education sectors.
I don't know the answer to this, but I do know that something needs to happen soon or else ALL of us will be in trouble. I had to secure the last 107 Chips across the US that were available after looking at https://octopart.com/ .... Mouser had 20 thousand on order but not available until this time next year, I got the last 107 they did have however.
This was not a fancy micro controller, just a simple motor controller that we use in everything.
re the funds:
I have always found that to get any funding you need paid firms to do the work, and they take the cream. In the end, it's always only the big companies that benefit
I was looking at some 74xxxx parts on mouser and some backorders are scheduled for 2024.
This usually means the supplier has no idea when parts will be available so they give a way off date.
Last time I recall parts going on short/allocation was ~1994. Of course there has been the usual DRAM shortages from time to time and the sharks made big $$$ by buying up all stock, waiting, and then selling for enormous markups. Eventually they get stung when supply comes back and they sat on too many parts - Kharma.
Need to ask On Semi if they're experiencing supply shortages slowing their output. Or maybe it's all just international shipping delays compounding on themselves. And no materials/manufacturing shortages at all.
Start focus a little more on industrial costumers instead of making a lot of toy robots etc. At first glance the parallax website looks like it is mostly all about chips for toys(my opinion)
The P1 is a very powerfull controller, well suitet for industrial use, and P2 is even more powerfull.
IMHO the P2 is too expensive for commercial products like toys and are more suited to use in industrial products which often can cost a lot more
Thanks to the toy robots we have both a P1 and P2 to work with, and a community that enjoys them. Turning this corner towards industrial focus is more difficult than it appears from the outside, as it requires either significant retained earnings / external investment to get the ROI underway. . .hence the initial post. We share the same goal as you identified about P1 and P2.
Ken Gracey
we are taxpayers....look at from that point. we as tax payers expect certain things that may be different then u or chip think is important.
Sure. As a taxpayer, the things I care about that relate to microcontrollers might include:
As a Parallax business person, I care about being able to further our P1/P2 with improved tools, more ease of use, lower-cost point of entry, and showing where our chips perform well. This is more self-serving in that it relates to business survival and development.
Ken Gracey
as a taxpayer i trust the p1 before the p2....its got its stuff together
ken-
i was demeaning u! and hence i will tell u how i would do it...even tho i know i will be run off this site again...im not a robot...i use the p1 and love it...i thought the p2 would solve my problems but after 2 years im still on the p1.
1.) restart tje obex...u might not be able to do this beause u gave that hard worked code away already...i think we all undersand tho
2.) if the prop2 is so gd...it should be able to do ALL of what was on the orgjnal obex.....when the prop 1 came out u tested it...u showed ur results....use the prop 1 as a benchmark
3.) you know what documentation worked on the prop1...it was an awesome pdf file that was always there for us....add the examples like potatoeheads assembly breakdown....i actually cant bueve u havent done thus
4.) i got started on the prop 1 using a breadboard kit a book paralllax supplied and 15 min of time
5.) make it easy...but it better work...the p1 did that
6.) if u dont do these...the prop2 will be a hut anyway.....but u seem to want to retire
Perhaps you could partner with a university to get a gnu cpp compiler for P2?
Docs for Prop2 are still to be sorted. They're last in line.
"We have Hunter's laptop" (?)
Apply for a Cage code on the CCR if you don't already have one.
sushi lunch might be OK, but - wouldn't be BBQ more American?
Mike
Thank you @evanh. We have nearly three of our top brass on the documentation full-time since April, and expect it their efforts to wrap up in July.
Ken Gracey
I guess you're right. You've been to Rocklin, right? It's the land of big-box food chains, and indeed, there's a Lucille's BBQ down the street. Eat there and fall asleep in a food coma within 30 minutes. Es wäre, als würde man ein Dutzend Würstchen mit Brot, Senf und Zwiebeln essen.
But I can't stuff too much meat in Chip, else he won't be with us for long!
Dein Freund, Ken
😮 Ich wusste nicht, dass @"Ken Gracey" deutsch spricht!
Not very much, but I can get by quite well if others aren't speaking too quickly. I was an exchange student in Freiburg (Breisgau) 35 years ago for a few months.
Ken Gracey
Hah! That's a very nice place in Germany. Good for you
I have a few friends from the US on both coasts that I got to know while they worked in Berlin with me. Their residual German is still quite good, I'm always impressed.
Dann noch ein schoenes Wochenende & viel Erfolg mit dem Foerderantrag!
(I'm writing US dvorak, so no Umlauts for me
)
I have a couple industrial applications that would love a P2 - but they're sorta niche applications - Maybe a few thousand chips a year.
The documentation is one of the reasons I'm not fully into this - it's horrible, and kudos to all of you who are trying to make it better. Very much looking forwards to the results.
I also have my opinions upon Representative T. McClintock, and I would suggest you would do better with other people, be they other Representatives or Senators. Other than that, I'll keep 'em to myself.
Have fun,
S.