We know that Atmel made it clear that mere mortals can't have the xplain. But according to http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resourc... there is the MC303 xmega board from Atmel (also part of MC323). Avnet lists the ATAVRMC303 board with 26 weeks lead time for $62.
Has anyone spotted the MC303 or MC323 in the wild? I noted the above app. note is dated 10/08, so almost a year for Atmel to bring it out.
DigiKey also lists those parts. '303 is "non-stock"; '323 is expected 15-September. Don't hold your breath. ;)
The other distis seem to have similar "don't hold your breath" listings.
'323 is expected 15-September
I'm guessing the first "mainstream" Xmega board for the masses will be the AVR-PX128A1 one from Olimex
I'm guessing the first "mainstream" Xmega board for the masses will be the AVR-PX128A1 one from Olimex
Remember that it's the habit in Europe for the entire month of August to be taken as a holiday. So I think maybe no one's been home just recently...
...in fact I just went to their home page and surprise, surprise note the central message:
I don't hold my breath, I was more curious if the Atmel motor guys managed to beat the Atmel xmega eval board guys to market.
I am not sure that any board will become the xmega board for the masses - due to lack of masses. Atmel might have missed the window of opportunity with all the xmega delays.
I haven't seen the data and price for the Olimex, so can't say anything about it. Mikroe has said they work on an xmega board, too. And already today less than 40€ can buy me an alvidi xavrb xmega module with an SD card slot, but unfortunately without USB. The only company without an xmega board seems to be Atmel.
I am not sure that any board will become the xmega board for the masses - due to lack of masses. Atmel might have missed the window of opportunity with all the xmega delays.
I don't understand why it seems like such a low priority to them.
Perhaps the yield from their fab is very poor, and they won't be able to keep up with demand for the Xplain board. None of the distributors seem to have many chips in stock, and the lead times are rather long (12 weeks), which isn't very encouraging for companies like Olimex.
I was thinking of designing a board for the ATXMEGA64A1-AU, but Farnell only has one in stock, and hasn't got any of the other chips.
Leon
Perhaps the yield from their fab is very poor, and they won't be able to keep up with demand for the Xplain board. None of the distributors seem to have many chips in stock, and the lead times are rather long (12 weeks), which isn't very encouraging for companies like Olimex.I was thinking of designing a board for the ATXMEGA64A1-AU, but Farnell only has one in stock, and hasn't got any of the other chips.
Leon
Avnet has 3,700 128A1
Mouser has about 1,300 of each (128/64).
Perhaps the yield from their fab is very poor, and they won't be able to keep up with demand for the Xplain board. None of the distributors seem to have many chips in stock, and the lead times are rather long (12 weeks), which isn't very encouraging for companies like Olimex.
But let's face it, the delivery situation is much better than it was a few month ago. Still not all of the 12 or 14 announced xmegas are available at all. But you usually get those available in quantities of thousand.
E.g. Avnet alone has more than 3000 128A1's in stock http://www.stkcheck.com/evs/atme... And these are the ones companies like Olimex prefer to use on their dev boards.
I was thinking of designing a board for the ATXMEGA64A1-AU, but Farnell only has one in stock, and hasn't got any of the other chips.
I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that Atmel was going fabless. Microchip believes in having their own fabs but they don't build any from scratch. Their CEO has said: "We don't ever build fabs. We buy other people's mistakes." They use TSMC for the 0.18 um PIC32, though, as their fabs only go down to 0.25 um. It's an interesting difference in corporate strategy between Microchip and Atmel.
Leon
