itsy bitsy M0?
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- zencuke2
- Posts: 237
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:40 pm
itsy bitsy M0?
I'm ready. When will the Itsy Bity M4 be available? ;-) Just joking; but only a little.
- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67485
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: itsy bitsy M0?
We'll probably have something eventually, but we also plan to keep an eye on the tendency for more-itis.
Programmable hardware has a natural evolutionary path that starts with 8-bit programming, then advances to more memory, CPU speed, and peripheral options. There's an obligatory tipping point where someone ports DOOM to it, and then it marches along the path to an operating system and full multi-media platform. Each additional layer of power increases the learning curve and makes it harder for beginners to learn to do anything interesting. After a few years of that, someone discovers that 8-bit programming is actually fun again, and a new cycle begins.
There's a market for it, but it isn't new, and eventually leads to being an acquisition target for some major corporation. The only part that's significantly disruptive is where people go back to 8-bit again.
We have enough business sense to skate to where the puck is going to be, but that's just our defensive game.. we know what the competition will be doing because the roadmap is already obvious. Our strategy is to get the puck where no one would ever expect it to be.
Programmable hardware has a natural evolutionary path that starts with 8-bit programming, then advances to more memory, CPU speed, and peripheral options. There's an obligatory tipping point where someone ports DOOM to it, and then it marches along the path to an operating system and full multi-media platform. Each additional layer of power increases the learning curve and makes it harder for beginners to learn to do anything interesting. After a few years of that, someone discovers that 8-bit programming is actually fun again, and a new cycle begins.
There's a market for it, but it isn't new, and eventually leads to being an acquisition target for some major corporation. The only part that's significantly disruptive is where people go back to 8-bit again.
We have enough business sense to skate to where the puck is going to be, but that's just our defensive game.. we know what the competition will be doing because the roadmap is already obvious. Our strategy is to get the puck where no one would ever expect it to be.
- plutonic
- Posts: 89
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:21 am
Re: itsy bitsy M0?
I just saw the product page (https://www.adafruit.com/product/3727) and wow! But i wish it had an RTC crystal like the Feather does, and am looking forward to a SAMD51 version (I can imagine the Trinket board being too small for that). Otherwise the Trinket M0 and Gemma M0 are great boards and the Itsy Bitsy's main additions are the SPI flash and more surfaced GPIO pins, it sounds like.
- plutonic
- Posts: 89
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:21 am
Re: itsy bitsy M0?
I gotta say the M0 Itsy Bitsy is already 32-bit and the Cortex M0 seems ahead of the 32U4 in almost every way (speed, memory, power consumption, analog i/o, etc, plus it's about at cost parity). And, the addition of the SPI flash (another package) seems like a bigger expansion than using a SAMD51 once it becomes available (the '51 product page says it's almost a drop-in replacement for the '21). The '51 has enough on-chip flash to allow getting rid of the SPI part on the M0 board, so it's a step back towards simplicity rather than "more".adafruit_support_mike wrote:We'll probably have something eventually, but we also plan to keep an eye on the tendency for more-itis. ...
Programmable hardware has a natural evolutionary path that starts with 8-bit programming, then advances to more memory, CPU speed, and peripheral options. ... The only part that's significantly disruptive is where people go back to 8-bit again..
On the other hand, as someone else also mentioned in another thread, almost everything I ever think of doing with MCU's requires or would benefit from an xtal timebase. Anything using the added flash memory for logging stuff? Timestamps would be nice. Gadget (even non-music-oriented) makes an audio beep for some reason? Would be nice to make the pitch consistent across units. Blinky lights? Same thing. Turn your lights on and off? Wants accurate time-of-day. Speech codec? Would like the data rate and the filter banks to be accurate. If the Trinket is supposed to be minimal, the Itsy is already "more" so I'd very much support including an xtal on some updated versions. It could replace the SPI flash part, keeping package count the same.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to future products in this and the Trinket line. You're already releasing Feathers like there's no tomorrow ;).
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.