| ??? 03/17/10 17:02 Read: times |
#174238 - Where you sit determines what you see Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Andy Peters said:
Richard Erlacher said:
Andy Peters said:
Then use an FPGA and design EXACTLY what YOU want. Consider what that costs, Andy! Spartan 3AN50 is about five bucks. I dunno, it seems as if there's a ton of devices that communicate over SPI, which is a synchronous protocol and in many cases goes pretty damn fast. Really? So where would you find an SPI USRT that can process HDLC? Ya know, I haven't dealt with obsolete serial communications protocols in over a decade, so I'm really sorry if I haven't kept up with the parts available to handle them. There's nothing obsolete about HDLC. A big chunk of the work I do involves restoring communication between hardware that has worked satisfactorily for decades, yet the "other end" is no longer functional. I don't care what the PC's do. I want to know what can be done to make it, once again, into a useful tool for development. As I've noted in this thread, the PC IS a very useful development tool. You've stated your case, but haven't provided any supporting facts. Your reading comprehension is for shit. I reiterate again: a) I do VHDL design entry and simulation and FPGA synthesis and place and route on my Windows PC. b) I do microcontroller C and assembly language coding and compilation, and source-level debug on my Windows PC. c) I do schematic design entry and multilayer PCB layout and signal integrity simulation on my Windows PC. d) I read datasheets in PDF format on my Windows PC. In other words, my Windows machine is quite useful. I believe that, but, as I said, it's only useful for using Windows app's. So there are some supporting facts. As one wag once said, "you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts." All along, I've asserted that Windows is the problem, and not the solution. Windows is what causes those long pauses in I/O, for whatever reason, and that's what screws things up. I'm surely glad I still have running DOS-based PC's. They work as PC's once did, and there's really nothing that can take their place. Please write a follow-up to this post using a DOS-based PC. Otherwise, enough with the trolling. Maybe Windows is not the only problem. I'd point out, however, that we, in the industry in the early '80's used the internet, though it was not yet opened to commercial exploitation. Back then, the PC was useful as a terminal, but could be used for IP comm's. You just had to have the correct software. In the early '80's, it was fashionable to use *nix rather than DOS, and it was more convenient. After spending a fortune on Sun and Apollo hardware and software, I ultimately gave up on *nix. Now, of course, I'm having to look seriously at LINUX. The only catch there is in the doc's, which seldom are as up to date as last decade's software. -a Since our goals are different, I'm not surprised that your experience and mine differ considerably. You consider everything on which the paint is dry to be obsolete. By that standard, there's lots of "obsolete" stuff that is still considerably valued by those who have to use it every day. As I said, I work in that arena quite a bit. As a consequence, I need the tools to do that. Those current-generation Spartans may sell for 5 bucks if you use 1k units/day, but I, myself, wouldn't use more than a half dozen, ever, particularly since the current XILINX software won't even program the parts I acquired just a few years ago, hence, I have to preserve the old software, just so it will still program my devices. Further, that $5 price would be exceeded by the required level shifters. That's why I often use the old Spartan-II's and 9500-series CPLD's which are still 5-volt tolerant. As I've said many times ... Where you sit determines what you see. RE |
