Well, I wouldn't use this unless I needed something of that scale that had to be placed in FPGA, but it is supported with adequate "free" (clean 'em up yourself, if necessary) tools and there are commercial tools to support the MIPS architecture if you're long on cash and short on time.

I agree that in order to ensure that there's good software support for these "reduced-scale" cores in microcontroller's clothing, someone will have to pay. Maybe that's why ARM bought KEIL. They have guys who've written microcontroller-targeted compilers and they have a customer base that's used to supporting them. It would be a move in the right direction.

As for the market effect of "free" or "open-source" development tools ... they'll get someone to try it. Those "try it before you buy it" versions of Keil, etc, are not really adequate trial packages at all. You can't do the large app's in 'em, and that's why you'd want a compiler.

I've considered using Keil demo output as parts of other code sets, but they've never been an adequate fit. It's always easier for me to write the functions I need as callable macros in ASM and then use 'em as such. I like using MCU's with the features I'd otherwise have to write in firmware built into hte hardware. If they're not available, I like putting 'em in programmable logic. Usually they're pretty simple, though that's not always the case.

RE