Rumor on the street is that Microchip have some new Cortex chips up their sleeve, a Cortex M4 series named PIC32CX and Cortex M7 series named PIC32CZ. Presumably they derive from Atmel SAM products. Anyone got any more info?
@gchapman I expect you to be all over this :)
gchapman 
I'll pass :-) though am dazzled by the PIC32MZ DA.
These new MCU (program and data space, functions, multiple computer languages) will emphasize the need for teams.
http://www.microchip.com/design-centers/32-bit/architecture/pic32mz-da-family
jgmdesign 
This is still a site dedicated to Atmel AVR.
This is still a site dedicated to Atmel AVR.
We seem to tolerate posts about SAMD21 and Micro-bit... should I complain about those?
Rumor on the street is that Microchip have some new Cortex chips up their sleeve, a Cortex M4 series named PIC32CX and Cortex M7 series named PIC32CZ. Presumably they derive from Atmel SAM products. Anyone got any more info?
Rebranding ?
Given PIC32 has always label MIPS cores, that's going to cause some confusion in the market place, but maybe that is the intention ?
Microchip has always tried to elevate 'PIC' above the core, and it seems here you run all the way along the string PIC32, to find the next letter is a M for MIPS and C for Cortex ?
Code is not going to be nearly as portable as the brand name 'suggests', but caveat emptor always applies I guess.
jgmdesign jgmdesign wrote:This is still a site dedicated to Atmel AVR.
We seem to tolerate posts about SAMD21 and Micro-bit... should I complain about those?
Jim
gchapman Rebranding ?
BBC
Imagination Technologies put up for sale amid Apple dispute
22 June 2017
Licensing fees may change wherever MIPS lands.
https://www.imgtec.com/ (Imagination Technologies)
Edit : URL
SalAmmoniac This is still a site dedicated toAtmel AVRMicrochip PIC19
There, fixed that for ya. Latest rumors have Microchip renaming the 8-bit AVRs to PIC19.
There, fixed that for ya. Latest rumors have Microchip renaming the 8-bit AVRs to PIC19.
Those rumours have completely eluded Google. Which is highly unlikely. Feels like the rumour started in #8.
Care to post a link?
|
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 |
gchapman A PIC32MZ DA board is on sale :
Microchip
DM320010 - PIC32MZ Embedded Graphics with Stacked DRAM (DA) Starter Kit
http://www.microchip.com/Developmenttools/ProductDetails.aspx?PartNO=DM320010
$50 Off - Use Coupon Code :TP1720 Expires : 31-Aug-2017
gchapman Anyone got any more info?
Microchip
Press Release
Microchip Launches Two New SAM Microcontroller Families with Extensive Connectivity Interface Options
Chandler, Arizona
Aug. 1, 2017
SAM D5x and E5x MCUs Provide Powerful Performance and Enhanced Security Features
jgmdesign There, fixed that for ya. Latest rumors have Microchip renaming the 8-bit AVRs to PIC19.
Those rumours have completely eluded Google. Which is highly unlikely. Feels like the rumour started in #8.
Care to post a link?
I looked as well and found nothing.
Whatever Joey, IT's only a matter of time.....
JIm
plouf 
maybe PIC32 will move to "AVR32" or whatever but for sure PIC32 will move to ARM core, if they have not moved already..
here is what MPLAbX 4.0 says
ARM® GNU Toolchain and MPLAB X IDE The ARM® GNU toolchain may be used with MPLAB X IDE to provide GUI development of application code for the PIC32C MCU families of devices.
... but for sure PIC32 will move to ARM core, if they have not moved already..
Not quite, there is PIC32M and PIC32C and both exist independently. That extra letter is important.
PIC32M is not 'moving to' PIC32C.
gchapman 
Damn...
"I don't need any more than an 8bit AVR. I don't need ARM, I don't need 32bits, I don't need 120MHz, I don't need floating point, and I don't even need all those fancy peripherals! I'll be fine with my ATmega2560!"
"The 100pin ATSAMD51N19A is less than half of the price of the ATmega2560..."
"Say what?!"
Torby 
Damn...
"I don't need any more than an 8bit AVR. I don't need ARM, I don't need 32bits, I don't need 120MHz, I don't need floating point, and I don't even need all those fancy peripherals! I'll be fine with my ATmega2560!"
"The 100pin ATSAMD51N19A is less than half of the price of the ATmega2560..."
"Say what?!"
hehe
If you don't know my whole story, keep your mouth shut.
If you know my whole story, you're an accomplice. Keep your mouth shut. 
gchapman
Electronic Design
China-Backed Fund Canyon Bridge to Buy Imagination
Sep 26, 2017
http://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/china-backed-fund-canyon-bridge-buy-imagination
...
Imagination is selling its MIPS business unit as a condition for the deal with Canyon Bridge, ...
MIPS processors are mostly used in embedded computing.
Imagination said on Friday that the American investment firm Tallwood Venture Capital would pay $65 million for the MIPS business, which is based in the United States. The MIPS architecture is used, for example, in Mediatek’s smartphone modems and Mobileye’s image processors for semi-autonomous cars.
...
In May, the company said that it would stay afloat by selling its Ensigma and MIPS units. In June – after its stock price had plunged – Imagination said that everything had to go.
...
“We are investing in U.K. talent and expertise in order to accelerate the expansion of Imagination, particularly into Asia.” - Ray Bingham, Canyon Bridge co-founder
Will this have any negative impact on PIC32 existence / development ?
gchapman No (a guess) though ones at Microchip are likely mulling this.
New Microchip MIPS MCU are extremely recent.
MIPS will continue as MediaTek is a huge customer.
gchapman New Microchip MIPS MCU are extremely recent.
Microchip
Press Release
Microchip Expands Computing Capabilities with Two Embedded Controller Families that Support eSPI Bus Technology
The MEC17XX and MEC14XX Families Allow for Increased Functionality and Flexibility in Computing Designs
Chandler, Arizona
Sept. 27, 2017
...
The MEC17XX family is based on an ARM® Cortex®-M4F core and has advanced hardware-accelerated cryptography algorithms to efficiently support the secure boot of a computer [PC].
...
In addition, Microchip’s popular MIPS-based MEC14XX family has been expanded to include functionality for supporting the new eSPI Slave Attached Flash (SAF) feature, which allows the Microchip embedded controller to be directly connected to an SPI Flash memory using an on-board master controller.
...
For more information about the MEC17XX and MEC142XX, visit: www.microchip.com/MEC1701
...
http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/mec1428
gchapman Imagination said on Friday that the American investment firm Tallwood Venture Capital would pay $65 million for the MIPS business, which is based in the United States.
What Opening the MIPS Architecture Could Mean
by James Morra
Jan 03, 2019
[MIPS Open by Wave Computing, zero fee or zero royalty, by the end of Q1'19]
(end of 4th paragraph)
The MIPS architecture plays a major role in the embedded processor market and hundreds of customers continue to use it commercially, including Microchip Technology, Mobileye and MediaTek. Common applications are set-top boxes, residential gateways and routers.
(mid-page)
Last year, after Imagination announced that it was losing its largest graphics customer by revenue, the company starting shopping the MIPS architecture. It was offloaded to Tallwood Venture Capital, an investment firm founded by Data Banatao. MIPS Technologies briefly returned to Silicon Valley before it was sold to Wave, which is also building custom chips for training artificial intelligence in data centers and edge servers.
Wave is headed by many former executives from the first incarnation of MIPS Technologies. ...
...
Last year, it [arm] moved to end licensing fees for lower-end Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M1 microcontrollers. Companies only have to pay royalties if the product is successful. The company also lowered the cost of its Cortex-A5 core.
...
edit: Microchip nee Microsemi is a member of the prpl Foundation.
Wave Computing® Creates MIPS Open™ Advisory Board - WAVE Computing
Current members - prpl Foundation, Open Source - IoT, Security and OpenWrt
gchapman Can MIPS Leapfrog RISC-V? | EE Times
02.14.19
...
[Art] Swift [Wave Computing, MIPS licensing president] noted that MIPS plans to soon announce details on cores to be provided to the open source community.
...
Meanwhile, Swift said MIPS is committed to increasing its number of customers by lowering barriers to entry. For example, MIPS will revive and promote what is known as MIPSfpga program. The academic-focused program was originally developed to be taught in classes, with a comprehensive set of materials for a MIPS CPU that presents to students the actual RTL code and inner workings of the processor.
...
gchapman MIPS R6 Architecture Now Available for Open Use | EE Times
03.28.19
...
Under the MIPS Open program, participants have full access to the MIPS R6 architecture free of charge – with no licensing or royalty fees.
...
Downloadable
[ISA, RTL, toolchain, MIPSfpga]
...
The actual release of microAptive core, however, is several weeks away, according to [Art] Swift [Wave Computing, MIPS Licensing president].
Is MIPS relevant?
[Yes due to open RTL; RISC-V is open RTL]...
MIPS Open Advisory Board
[MIPS Open licensing conditions : 1. MIPS ISA can only be extended, 2. certification]...
Potential users of MIPS Open
[MIPS Open ISA is extendable, MIPS Open RTL reduces risk]...
AI + MIPS strategy
[edge computing]
...
microAptiveTM core is in PIC32MM, PIC32MK, and PIC32MZ DA.
32-bit PIC® and SAM Microcontrollers Peripheral Integration
gchapman First Release Provides Immediate Access to the Proven, Industry-Standard and Patent-Protected MIPS RISC Architecture without License Fees or Royalties
Campbell, California
March 28, 2019
...
The new MIPS Open online environment is live and immediately accessible at www.mipsopen.com.
...
Specific components of the first MIPS Open program release include: [ISA, toolchain, openFPGA includes non-commercial RTL for the microAptiv core]
Additional enhancements and capabilities for the MIPS Open components are planned, including the release of the commercial RTL code for the MIPS microAptiv cores and new features for the development environment.
...
gchapman ... including the release of the commercial RTL code for the MIPS microAptiv cores ...
Wave Computing Adds MIPS32 microAptiv Cores to MIPS Open Program – MIPS Open
New Release of MIPS Open™ Components Includes Verilog RTL Code for MIPS32 microAptiv Cores Helping Developers Save Months-to-Years of Time
Campbell, California
May 13, 2019
...
The new set of MIPS Open program components will include two different versions of the microAptiv Verilog RTL code:
[1. MCU, 2. MPU adds cache and MMU]
In addition to the Verilog RTL code, the package also includes documentation, configuration tools and a verification suite.
...
gchapman Wave Computing and Imperas Introduce New MIPS Open Simulator— MIPSOpenOVPsim – MIPS Open
New MIPS Open Partner Offering Helps System-on-Chip (SoC) Developers Run Design Verification in Record Time Using MIPSOpenOVPsim
Campbell, California and Oxford, England
May 30, 2019
...
MIPSOpenOVPsim is a MIPS system architecture simulator, available at no cost, which implements a complete single-core CPU.
...
For developers of more advanced designs who need multi-core support and advanced debug tools, Imperas also offers full-capability virtual platforms. MIPSOpenOVPsim includes a freedom to use license model from Imperas, which supports commercial as well as academic use.
...
Highlights of MIPSOpenOVPsim include:
...
It is also suitable as a platform target to develop bare metal applications and also models the MIPS32 microAptiv cores recently made available within the MIPS Open Program.
...
MIPSOpenOVPsim delivers exceptionally fast, high-performance simulations, running over 500 million instructions per second on a standard host PC (Windows or Linux).
...
- Free and easy to adopt: MIPSOpenOVPsim will be released on June 3, 2019 via the Wave Computing MIPS Open program at https://www.mipsopen.com.
...
gchapman gchapman 
unless it's ASF related as there is no forum in the SAM community for that
Oh Yes There Is:
https://community.atmel.com/forums/atmel-software-framework-asf-and-atmel-start-asfv4-arm-related
gchapman PIC32CX is a future product.
PIC32CM (Arm Cortex-M0+, 5 volt) is a very recent product.
https://packs.download.microchip.com/#collapse-Microchip-PIC32CM-MC-DFP-pdsc (first 3 of 4, MPLAB X)
These are in the Arm portion of MPLAB XC32 :
MPLAB® XC32 C/C++ Compiler User’s Guide for PIC32C/SAM MCUs
edit : via banner on the home page
PIC32CM MC MCUs Product Family | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology
[mid-page]
...
A cost-effective successor to our SAM C2x family, these truly differentiated 5V MCUs are ideal for motor control, home appliance, industrial control and other 5V applications.
...
- Functional pin compatibility with current SAM C20 devices in 32- and 48-pin packages
...
gchapman gchapman either in-stock or ETA mid-Jan or mid-May :
PIC32CM MC00 Motor Control MCUs - Microchip Technology | Mouser
PIC32CM MC00 Curiosity Nano Users Guide
SWDAT from the debug chip looks like UPDI from an AVR128Dx demo board debug chip, but there is a clock line also. It almost looks like SWDAT is a synchronous version of UPDI, at least from a hardware view.... I have ideas, or bran farts, not sure which yet.
gchapman It almost looks like SWDAT is a synchronous version of UPDI, at least from a hardware view
SWD is the ARM-specified standard debug access for most of the cortex-M chips. It's more of a "somewhat reduced" JTAG than anything else. (my interpretation is that JTAG is a standardized "big shift register" that lets you load/read hardware bits. SWD simplifies the hardware (bidirectional data, no "chaining" of multiple chips) and standardizes what the chip-side interface looks like at both hardware level (register widths) and "firmware" level (all the basic debug commands up through "access RAM-like things at RAM addresses", and "run code up to breakpoint" are common across all the CM0 chips.)
Flash programming tends to be a bottleneck requiring per-vendor intervention, because "flash write" usually (always?) goes through some sort of "NVM Controller." :-(
Not that there's a lot that you can do with "1 clock, 1 bi-directional data signal" that doesn't look like all the other similar things...
gchapman Flash programming tends to be a bottleneck requiring per-vendor intervention, because "flash write" usually (always?) goes through some sort of "NVM Controller." :-(
