Re: Trend from ASIC back to standard chips?

From: keith (krw_at_att.bizzzz)
Date: 08/31/04 

Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:16:07 -0400

On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 05:12:01 +0000, John S. Dyson wrote:

> In article <aJtYc.13206$A13.351@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com>,
> Joerg <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> writes:
>> Hi Ken,
>>
>>>>May I add one?
>>>>
>>>>--- This particular component has become unobtanium. If you already
>>>>released to production, too bad ---
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>Yes you may!
>>>
>>>It happens to me all the time.
>>>
>>>
>> This is the very reason a friend of mine changed careers and became a SW
>> engineer. A good one I must say. He simply became sick and tired of
>> having to redesign just because of component obsolescence.
>>
> That is the reason why I changed to SW from to HW also. Dealing with
> vendors and suppliers is alot more random than dealing with SW suppliers.
> SW does have supplier quality issues (e.g. sometimes the complaints
> about Microsoft), but they are quite different.
> I changed in the late 1970s, even though the problems seem to have gotten
> alot worse over the intervening decades.

Hmm, perhaps that's why I stayed with HW. Leverage. OTOH, FPGAs and
processors (from top to bottom) have become quite powerful.

> I still do HW when needed (mostly analog, both DC and RF up to a few GHz
> ), which is an odd mix for an OS/realtime software developer. Digital
> hardware technology has changed too much for me to keep up since the
> 1970s, but I suspect with a few months self-training, that I could start
> making progress in the digital world.

That's what I say about software. ;-)
 
> I think that I still like HW more, but dealing with supplier problems
> causes too much stress. With software, we are mostly dependent upon our
> own capabilities, where we can just work harder/faster/more efficiently
> and be able to design limited ONLY by our own skill.

FPGAs with a controller or two is the best of both worlds, AFAIC. Until I
can find a more comfy bed, I'll stick with HW though. ...though we'd like
to move. 

-- 
  Keith
Quantcast