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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : MX170
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palcal Guru  Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1873 |
the Maximite started with the MX150 then I think about 2014 we got the MX170 and the Micromite. Thats 10 years this chip has been around. Any reason why Microchip have not updated. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
Probably because the demand for such small DIL chips just isn't big enough. If you are willing to go to SMD packages they have a much larger range. We have to face it, through hole construction hasn't really been used commercially for many years now. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1873 |
SMD is no problem, but has there been any new chips for the MM. Updates on the Micromite seemed to have stalled since the Pico, and I guess the biggest reason is price and being able to buy a ready made board. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9306 |
I think it's also a case of the current 64-pin and 100-pin MM+ series of SMD chips and the firmware for them, is stable and has been stable now for several years. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." kind of thing. It's also a time issue, in that it probably takes quite a lot of time to port MMBASIC to a new chip family, and so there really has to be a good reason to do it at this point, as the current chips support a plethora of external devices. In other words, there may well be more grunty chips available from Microchip at this point, but is it REALLY worth the effort to port to any of those chips, when the 64 and 100 pin MM+(and/or the MicromiteExtreme chips) can do everything that 99% of everyone want them to do at this point? Porting to a new chip just for the sake of porting to a new chip is a waste of effort, really, but I guess Peter might chime in here and offer a better explanation then I.  But that's how I see it, and why there has not really been any new port development, even now that the world has pretty much got past COVID19 and shortage of chips. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4223 |
The PIC32 series are all based on a MIPS32 core. That technology is not technically developed anymore since all focus is on ARM cores. With purchase of ATMEL by Microchip, Microchip also have ARM technology in house, and I do not expect any more new chips based on MIPS cores in their portfolio. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Everyone's comments are spot on. Essentially Microchip have not come up with any new MIPS32 chips that are easy to use and have significantly better specs. This particularly applies to the DIL thru hole package which is what made the Micromite so popular. My guess is that Microchip is now focused on the ARM architecture and the market is not demanding DIL thru hole microcontrollers any more. The ARM chips (especially the ones with much better specs) nearly always come in complex multi pin surface mount packages which require mounting on a carrier board. There are lots of these but arguably the best of the lot is the RPi Pico which has great specs at an extremely good price... thus the PicoMite which can be treated as a high performance version of the Micromite in a large 40-pin thru hole package. Having said this the MX170 version of the Micromite (especially the DIL thru hole package) is still quite popular as a simple and cheap embedded controller. I see it often in new projects because it does mostly what people want in a small controller and it is very stable (no unexpected bugs, reboots, etc). I suppose that its main downside is that it is not new and exciting. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6783 |
TBH I always loved (and still do) the 28-pin Micromite. :) There's still nothing quite like it and it feels like a miracle writing MMBasic on the built-in editor when all you have is a chip and a capacitor. :) As you say, Geoff, the PicoMite is effectively a massively enhanced Micromite in a 40DIL package - which could almost have been Microchip's next development if they had continued to stay on that path. The RP2040-Zero takes a lot of beating for its size, especially if you are going to add a Microbridge and regulator to a Micromite. It's also appreciably cheaper than the MX170 alone. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| zeitfest Guru Joined: 31/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 482 |
The Maximite was on a pic32MX695 or 795 surface mount device. Microchip followed the MX series with the MZ, I think the Extreme 'mites used a MZ (?) which were also surface mount. The original Micromite was on pic32MX150 DIL and upgraded to 170 a year or so later. An idea I toyed with briefly was to put an small triangular A-frame of soldered adaptor boards onto a DIL base, so the smd connections emulated a 28-pin DIL... you could use a small MZ maybe...a bit wacky though  |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9306 |
Indeed - my thoughts exactly! Gives the illusion there is a lot more intelligence going on in the DIL then the SMD packages, which "Look" complicated and advanced just visually! Indeed. Again. I've pretty much ALMOST defaulted to using the Waveshare Zero module as a direct replacement for all the 28-pin based footprints in my designs. To be fair, this mostly came about due to chip shortages of the PIC32 parts during COVID19, meaning that to keep critical systems running, I HAD to find something else, and the PicoMite port came along at the PERFECT time to allow for this, as there was no shortage of RP2040 chips at the time. The WS RP2040 Zero module costs US$4 each, which, as mentioned by Mick above, is cheaper then just the PIC32 chip itself, and the module has on-board regulator and RGB LED etc, making it a very sweet-spot price-wise. The RP2040 chip alone is only about one buck I think! Hard to fight the features of that chip for the price of the chip! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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