Future of SX chips

David Naffin

Would anyone at Parallax like to comment on the future of the SX micro controller? It would seem like Ubicom has moved on to
bigger·things ·(e.g. IP2000/IP3000)?

Jon Williams

That's why we're handling the SX.... It's not going away.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax
Dallas, TX· USA

David Naffin

But any hope for newer versions in the future?

Paul Baker

Not a possibility, the IP series is the new version.

Beau Schwabe

Paul,

Jon said...

That's why we're handling the SX.... It's not going away

Here is how I read into this... Since Parallax is handling
the SX, wouldn't it be possible that Parallax could release
a newer "future" SX version?

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Beau Schwabe - Mask Designer III

National Semiconductor Corporation
Latest Company News
(Communication Interface Division)
500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525
Mail Stop GA1
Norcross,GA 30071

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Paul Baker

Yes it is possible, it would just be in a direction they haven't gone product wise. Since they are using the Altera for ASIC design, they would be capable of doing so, but it would be on the order of years rather than months, assuming such a thing were in the pipeline.

Bean

Let's look at the facts:

The SX is still one of the fastest 8-bit microcontrollers out there.
The SX is a stable tried-and-true microcontroller.
Parallax is the primary distributor.
Parallax is developing new versions of the SX/B compiler as we speak.
Parallax is supporting the SX on the new professional development board.
Parallax has had recent articles in N&V about the SX.

I for one feel very secure about the future of the SX.
Bean.

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"SX-Video Display Module" Available Now.

www.sxvm.com

"I thought I was wrong once...But I was mistaken [noparse];)[/noparse]"
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pjv

Hi Bean;

All you said is true, however it would be real nice to upgrade some of the capabilities of the SX:

some more RAM
some more ROM
delete banking/paging
add a second live FSR
access to the call stack

Such a unit could really smoke!

It would be interesting to solicit reasonable features folks would like, with their priority of importance and anticipated consumption numbers. Then make an aggregate overlay matrix of these prioritized features to see if there might be enough economic justification to pursue a develpment. Perhaps users might be willing to purchase a "share" of the ownership; I know I would!

Anyone else ??

Peter

Ken Gracey

Hey guys,

Please save your energy. We've had this discussion with the CFO at Ubicom as well as other key brass. Since the SX was introduced in 1997 their design team, marketing plans and customer base have changed substantially. Not being one to take "no" for an answer this is also a tough concept for me to handle. There's always that shred of hope, but it's in neither company's business plan at the moment.

However, you can expect steady volumes of SX chips to always be available and supported by Parallax no matter what becomes of Ubicom. If you like what you see in the chip in terms of features and support - and it fits the app - use it.

Sincerely,

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

Paul Baker

Whats the chance of Parallax offering an IP series dev platform with minimal support (like the altera packages)?

Ken Gracey

Paul,

None, really. Sorry.

Ken