cool chart

formatting link

John

Reply to
John Larkin
Loading thread data ...

Interesting, indeed.

Cypress had viable products but I'm convinced that management was the problem. (I also remember they wanted a rather large premium for their CPLDs that were sometimes only marginally better than the competition's.)

I don't know what Vantis's problem was, but at least after Lattive bought them they kept a few of the parts around.

Intel doesn't have its heart in much of anything but their desktop CPUs -- they consistently bring out interesting products and then discontinue them just when they're starting to gain traction.

You're pretty much a pure Xilinx man these days, aren't you, John?

Reply to
Joel Koltner

Yes, although I occasionally use a 22V10 for glue logic and such. We've used MMI, Gould/AMI, Actel, TI, and Lattice in the past.

We've been meaning to start using some CoolRunner type CPLDs for various things, but no compelling application has come up.

Where the hell are the Spartan 6's? Nobody will tell me when we can get some. Sales reps fall off the face of the Earth when you ask that question. The best I can get is "available for purchase in September" and nobody knows what that means.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Cypress' PSOC-3/5 looks quite interesting. If they had a better DAC I'd probably use it. The Avenet rep is coming tomorrow with feedback from the last meeting with the Cypress engineers, so we'll see.

Up until now I've been all Xilinx, but I'm just starting an Altera design. I was on the fence between Altera and Actel, but the support from Altera pushed them over the edge. I may still go to Actel down the road.

Reply to
krw

I use Xilinx because Peter Alfke told me to!

John

Reply to
John Larkin

I've used small Altera CPLDs without any problems, but not any of the real FPGAs.

At work we use Actel FPGAs and they've always worked fine... although our designs aren't at all demanding either (e.g., I/O expanders, sometimes a bit of serial protocol conversion like RS-232 to I2C, etc.).

The more demanding stuff does end up in Xilinx...

Reply to
Joel Koltner

blem.

were

I really liked the 37Cxxx series. They appeared fit a lot more per flipflop than the other brands. I designed them into something so naturally Cypress went out the business. I am still batting 1000 on every CPLD I design in going away after the ink is dry.

Reply to
MooseFET

As a PLD history goes, someone was a tad lazy there....

  • No mention of Triscend.
  • TI did not get out of PLD's in '92 - they still show 82 PLD devices on their web site in 2009!
  • ICT steps are missing from the time line (Gould -> ICT-> Anachip-
  • Some timelines were renames, so (eg) vantis are not really a 'startup'
  • WSI devices live on under ST's PSDxx families.

Atmel's FPGA (&FPSLIC) business may be in run-out mode, but their SPLD/ CPLD line is still (just?) viable (helped by others closing..), and the new CAP series Arms fill a safe niche.

formatting link

Reply to
-jg

It seems that most designers are strongly polarized with respect to which programmable logic company should be used for designs. Altera, Xilinx and Lattice are supposedly the "Big Three" companies.

For example, JVC uses Xilinx in professional video products:

formatting link

Alternately, Panasonic uses Altera:

formatting link

I would wonder which is better to use for designs, and if the history of design has a role to play in selection. Note that the chart shows that most programmable logic companies started up around the same time.

Reply to
Nicholas Kinar

problem.

them

Actually, that's not a bad reason. In my case the Altera FAE is hungrier. Any of the cheap FPGAs will do the job.

Reply to
krw

That's the sort of stuff I'll be doing, mostly.

From what I read, Altera and Xilinx are pretty competitive at the top end too. That said, I always used Xilinx for that stuff too. The first time because 'X' had the I/O's (1.2V) I needed and the last time because that's what I was paid to use. ;-)

Reply to
krw

problem.

were

them

I was foraging through a box of old books at the Foothill Flea Market when I noticed another head in the box. It was Peter's. We started talking and I walked away a Xilinx convert.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Saw that in one of the trade mags i got. Prolly makes some of the investors a BIT nervous...

Reply to
Robert Baer

Looks a bit heavy-handed with the "out of business" designation. Most of those listed were bought out at some point, and some of those products live on under a new masthead. Still pretty cool as you noted.

Regards, Gabor

Reply to
gabor

As far as I know Achronix is still up and running. Is anybody actually using their chips ?

Evgeni

Reply to
OutputLogic

It's a shame it doesn't start slightly earlier. What and when was the first PLD (not including ROMs). I remember using the Signetics 82S series (100?, 105?

153?) back sometime in the mid 70's. Was Signetics the first? I think the MMI stuff was a bit later.
Reply to
Pete Fraser

So what else is new about Xilinx??? Same old, same old...

I don't get all worked up about the latest and greatest tech in FPGA chips. I am much more concerned with availability and price than I am getting the smallest geometry or the most developed technology. So much of that stuff is actually in the noise when building a product. I care how well my vehicle moves, the MPG and how often it goes in the shop. Why should I care how many cylinders, how many valves or even if it is electric?

With FPGAs, I care about if I can actually get them, will my design fit (along with any future expansion allowance) and how much it costs, optionally with what packaging if that matters in a given design. The rest is in the noise including, for the top three, the tool set.

Rick

Reply to
rickman

Signetics were definitely before MMI. ISTR there's a note in the MMI "Designing with Programmable Array Logic" book (yes, I said "book", published by McGraw-Hill, authored by "The Technical Staff of Monolithic Memories Inc.") that implies this. Something about the PAL being an enhanced PLA.

I'd grab my copy off the bookshelf and quote it, but there's half a dozen other books on top of it, and I'd rather not cause a Catastrophic Bookshelf Collapse this late in the day... :)

Cheers,

--
Phil.
usenet09@philpem.me.uk
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Philip Pemberton

Yes. I remember marking up fuse maps by hand, then sending them away to Signetics and waiting for a couple of days to get the parts back.

After a few weeks we got an upgrade to our programmer that allowed us to program without trashing too many parts (as long as we blasted them with freeze spray during programming).

Pete

Reply to
Pete Fraser

I remember the Motorola fpgas. Free software (from Pilkington). I've never seen the actual devices though...

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Nico Coesel

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.