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propeller chip price cut coming up? — Parallax Forums

propeller chip price cut coming up?

nutsonnutson Posts: 242
edited 2006-09-23 15:33 in Propeller 1
My·Dutch Parallax reseller www.antratek.nl lists·P8X32A-D40·chips at Euro 11.66 now (ex VAT),·where I had to pay Euro 22.50 earlier. Could this mean·that the·50% price cut Chip indicated·some time ago (to attract more volume sales) is indeed·going to happen??

Nico Hattink

Comments

  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2006-09-17 23:19
    If they list it at the reduced price then it already has happened, hasn't it? When I ordered my demoboard last week I also ordered a DIP40 chip which was charged at half price. So indeed it has happened.

    *Peter*
  • Paul Bouchard (Parallax)Paul Bouchard (Parallax) Posts: 56
    edited 2006-09-18 16:08
    As of today the price reduction that Chip mentioned in an earlier post has not happened. Antratek may be offering lower pricing based on the volume purchasing and distributor pricing agreement they do have with Parallax. While it is the goal of Parallax to lower cost to our customers whenever possible please refer to our website for the most current pricing. If the price has not been reduced on our site then no changes have been put in effect at this time. Distributor list pricing is independent of Parallax and is soley the decision of each Distributor to determine.
  • nutsonnutson Posts: 242
    edited 2006-09-18 17:05
    That's why I posted·the information with question marks. Sometimes it has advantages to live in the Netherlands.....................

    Nico Hattink
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2006-09-19 13:05
    Sad, well I have to rethink this a bit now because as much as I like the chip when it comes to production the cents will have to be counted. Here in Oz I am picking up LPC2148 ARMs with USB and 512K Flash for around $10AUD. The price of the prop is $25USD which here in Oz is quite a bit higher. I can use two or even three LPC2148s for less than the cost of a propeller plus also I have much experience and a large software investment in ARM.

    Mmmmmm, let me see, which should I chose.....

    *Peter*
    ·
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2006-09-19 15:49
    Peter,
    I suppose the ARM with USB is quite handy [noparse][[/noparse]if you want to have a computer handy too], but the Propeller easily provides the functional power of several chips.· Can the ARM provide a keyboard, a mouse, and video along side the USB?· There lies the heart of the matter.

    I think you have to take a look at what you are trying to deploy and·what your additional·interface to the real world is costing you.· The Propeller is a tremendous value.· yeah.gif

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    "If you want more fiber, eat the package.· Not enough?· Eat the manual."········
    ···················· Tropical regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2006-09-19 16:33
    Peter, once the price cut comes, your choice should be easier to make.

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    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.
  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2006-09-19 22:38
    Kramer said...
    I suppose the ARM with USB is quite handy [noparse][[/noparse]if you want to have a computer handy too], but the Propeller easily provides the functional power of several chips. Can the ARM provide a keyboard, a mouse, and video along side the USB? There lies the heart of the matter.
    Well keyboard and mouse aren't such a big thing as they are quite easy handle in software. Even without interrupts you can poll them as either end has the ability to control the flow of coms. As for the video it is true that the LPC21xx chips do not have video onboard and to add it can be a real pain. However if you check my homepage you will see that I am indeed spitting out VGA directly from the LPC21xx by relying on the fact that the chip runs at 60MHz and that I have 40K of RAM to play with along with 512K of Flash. I don't know if the propeller could display a full bitmap. Again, however, I am aware of the performance cost this has in the LPC21xx vs how easily the Propeller generates VGA. My custom (wish) version of the LPC would have had a simple video register and perhaps DMA and then it could generate video in a much better and cleaner fashion.

    So my point was that at present I can easily use 3 of these LPC21xx chips for the same cost as a single propeller which has very definte program memory limitations. There is no problem for me to use the Propeller for small production or hobby use as it is effective but when it comes to production there are many factors that govern the choice of components and cost is a very big factor. Peter, production is asking why we are using such an expensive processor when his suppliers can supply a more powerful one with more memory for 20% of the price.... (translated: you are killing our profits you dumbhead)
    Paul said...
    Peter, once the price cut comes, your choice should be easier to make.
    Most definitely yes.

    *Peter*
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2006-09-23 15:33
    I have had one and only one production application for the Propeller that I could think of.
    It seems to me that the Propeller would be ideal for a cash register with video display. I wonder how the LPC21xx would compare with something like that. Apparently the same PS2 interface will handle keyboard, mouse, and laser bar code reader. The video output could be mixed with point-of-sale advertising feed. Obviously a RTC needs to be added and there is the question of supporting a receipt printer. In some cases, the device would have to feed data into a network for inventory control too.

    Does one really need all that RAM and Flash capacity? CAn your video do animation? Are large cashes of memory significant or is being able to efficiently juggle numerous tasks more important? For most microcontroller tasks, I suspect we have been overrun with memory expansion. That memory only goes so far toward being useful in a Finite State Machine.

    Nonetheless....
    What I really enjoy about the Propeller is the learning environment.

    Where else can I get an introduction to parallel processing? And there are a lot of powerful cheap chips that just have me stumped. Either the architecture is highly sophisticated or the IDE does not support beginners in any meaningful way. There seems to be a tacit 'for engineers with formal education and experience only' warning.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    "If you want more fiber, eat the package.· Not enough?· Eat the manual."········
    ···················· Tropical regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan
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