uC lifetime

Let me know when you find out why.

Jon

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Jon Kirwan
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Jon Kirwan skrev:

I do not think this is in production yet.

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Ulf Samuelsson
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Ulf Samuelsson

Jon Kirwan skrev:

When such rules apply, there is generally a way to get more. You just have to figure out how.

I would make sure that someone in Atmel was aware of your existance. Demand from your distributor to have a conference call with someone responsible at Atmel to discuss the sample situation.

If this person belives that it makes sense for you to have > 5 samples it is basically one email for them to get the samples approved. If they don't, then you are stuck.

Ordering samples via an Atmel webpage, generally will not give you that type of relation.

If the parts are not in the sample stock, then you won't get them of course.

That is why you have distributors. Distributors which apply the same minimum order qty as the vendor has lost part of their reason to exist.

Beats me as well.

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Reply to
Ulf Samuelsson

I submit that the problem is your multibillion dollar company, not Atmel....

Reply to
Jim Stewart

Neither was it in my case. The sample was announced as available for 'getting in line for samples' in February, which I did. Samples actually didn't start arriving (as I understood it) until late May, early June. I received mine in December -- after being grilled by my local rep (Eric Feign, whom I respect and don't want to imply any negative feelings about) about "numbers" in a parking lot meeting in September, well after many samples had been handed out but where it was clear from the discussion that I hadn't been placed high on the list. He was letting me know that if I could 'talk big enough' he could get samples in October for me. I refused to lie or say anything other than what I felt, conservatively speaking, I could achieve. So December it was. My order for samples was placed and accepted in late February, that year, within a week of that door opening -- so I know I was one of the few earliest requestors and that was certainly the message my local distributor told me, as well, in conversations that spanned all the way up to the September meeting with Eric.

Just so you know.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Kirwan

I _never_ need to work this hard with Microchip. And with Atmel, I have _always_ worked through my local distributer _and_ my local FAE, Eric Feign. Never directly with Atmel web sites. Not ever.

Yes, you can make a fuss with any company and hope to get attention with enough ruckus. But it's not something I ever look forward to. With Microchip, it's "How far did you want us to jump?" I've never once been asked for 'numbers' from Microchip. Not once. They just perform and look out for everyone. Period.

I will be interesting to hear, if anyone gets the skinny on it.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Kirwan

On Dec 15, 6:57=A0am, linnix The Atmega32u6 specs are out for several months.

I have a 2008 pdf that says 'available now' ;)

That said, the Atmega32u6 does look like a fringe part. If it is not the same die as the ATmega32U4 (and avail/fine print suggests it is not..) then it bumps into the many 32 bit Core USB devices.

8 bit cores are tending to leave the higher pin counts to the 32 bit devices - ddi you check price/avail of 32 bit-core choices in 64 pins ?

-jg

Reply to
-jg

Why should Atmel give you more than 5 samples? It is nice, if a company gives you free samples at all and more than a few pieces could be be misused. Of course, it is nothing compared to buying thousands ICs later when a product will be produced, but then it doesn't matter if you just buy the 10 samples from Digikey, Mouser, Farnell etc. Should be no problem for a multibillion dollar company and you don't have to answer long forms with questions why you need the samples, as seen on some webpages.

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Frank Buss

Greetings! I've managed to lose damn near all of my address book so... :<

How is J putting up with your living arrangement? Tired of picking *your* socks up off the floor, yet?? ;-) How have J & S adjusted to all this -- though I expect they are now headed to University?

We won't ask about K's reaction! Hopefully it was "well worth it" :>

Reply to
D Yuniskis

Jon Kirwan skrev:

neen

I think it is all a matter when in the product cycle, the product is released. If a company waits until it is in production and sample stocked is filled, then noone need to ask you those questions.

If the product is released when people expect the next rev to work, then there is always a risk of delays. I never promise anyone samples, only that they *may* be available at a certain time - at the earliest.

You are probably better to ask if production worthy parts are in sample stock. Save you some indigestion.

There clearly needs to be a way to get 50 chips out of Atmel for preproduction.

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Reply to
Ulf Samuelsson

U4 does not have enough I/O. So, we need U6 for single chip solution. We are redesigning it with a custom demux chip for additional I/Os and going to U2 instead. Atmega32U2 should be available in Jan 2010. So, we expect to get it in Feb, March or April, if past experiences is any indications with Atmel.

However, the two chips solution is harder to sell. They might just go to PIC instead. I really want AVR to win this; but unfortunately, Atmel is not helping.

Reply to
linnix

I think this is a consequence of more "designers" just adopting reference designs or other "sample applications" out of data sheets vs. designing from scratch. It must be terribly frustrating when something *doesn't* work and you can't even point to a published datum to justify why you thought it *should* work!

But, then again, manufacturers haven't seemed to care about those "inconveniences" for quite some time, now.

Or, as a friend explains: their "*contempt* for their customers"

Reply to
D Yuniskis

-jg skrev:

And I have a 2009 pdf saying that the schedule for next rev is TBD ;-) Only Engineering Samples in sample stock.

Yes, the AT32UC3B is a good alternative to the ATmega32U6.

Some people do not like the complexity of 32 bitters. Just received a new Cortex-M3 datasheet - 30 MBytes...

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Ulf Samuelsson

D Yuniskis wrote

Don - your old emails all bounced. Mine can be found at

formatting link
:)

Reply to
Peter

Even Engineering Samples are better than none, but I can't get any.

There might be another team using it, but we are tasked to use 8 bits AVR only. Anyway, I don't think AT32UC3B would be price competitive for this project.

Reply to
linnix

Yes, long story. Watch for incoming mail...

Reply to
D Yuniskis

neen

With Microchip I get preproduction samples without the questions. I usually only need a few -- 4 or so.

In this case, sampling was explicitly announced _by_ Atmel. They were asking for folks to request samples. I didn't even know about the part until reading something I got from Atmel telling me about the fact they were sampling these and would start accepting requests in Feb. that year.

This was a unique fit to the application and since the need was far enough out (at the time, we were told May and hoping for samples no later than August but could accept September, so felt there was a margin for error. When I nailed down the fact that Atmel _was_ shipping samples by late June and early July (it was fact, not conjecture), I still figured I'd see my "two parts" I'd asked for well before it would be too late. December was too late. In September when talking with Eric, it was clear they were prioritizing who got some and who didn't and that they were busily shipping away, though.

I told Eric that if they arrived in October, we'd spend time on them and they may get designed in. I told him that if they came later, there was no point. They arrived in December. We'd obviously designed something else into the product, by then.

I just wanted two parts. Two. One in case I broke something.

4 would have been wonderful. 50 would have been excessive and I've have told them to keep most and pass them on to others.

I never did find out when they went into production. Didn't care, by then.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Kirwan

...

This is VERY common in my experience with MANY distributors. This is true for all sorts of product lines from all sorts of manufacturers.

Even the likes of Farnell/RS/Digikey/Mouser who are supposed to be small volume distributors. As much as possible is classed as 'special order'.

MANY distributors are just turning into Freight Forwarders.

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Paul Carpenter
Reply to
Brendan Gillatt

are

That's my point. AVR32 is draining Atmel, at the expenses of AVR8.

nd

That's over 15 USD, vs. less than 2 USD for U2. Even the lowest AVR32 are 3 to 4 USD. I am sure the customer can eventually negotiate a better production price for AVR8 vs. AVR32, despite the apparent price/ performance..

Not for this, we need very minimum horse power only.

ngs?

Nothing cheap enough witth USB. We need just USB with at least 30 I/Os.

Reply to
linnix

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