Gee Whizzers, Batman! this is a freakin' CELLPHONE processor?

[Michael O'Dell]

there are some prototyping boards available for the part
with it already mounted. these are for supporting people
building cellphones with the part (it's intended purpose).
there is a Linux port that runs on the ARM and has stuff
for talking to the rest of the beast. i believe it's
an early target for Android (the GoogleFon code).

i'm not suggesting it's an ideal home-brewing part,
but it indicative of what's coming. coupled with
agile RF, an SDR-based handheld with color 3D waterfall
and Panadator displays is technically possible now.
from 2m-5GHz all modes, analog and digital, currently known
and as yet unknown.

"The best way to tell the future is to invent it."
	-- Alan Kay, inventor of Smalltalk and the personal computer

	-mo

PS - if you haven't played with SQUEAK, you owe it to yourself to
download the system and have a poke.  www.squeak.org


Frank Gentges wrote:
> Tacoistas,
> 
> Wholly Crap, this thing is way overkill for a simple SDR.  It is more 
> like an SDR (xmit and receive) plus an entire terminal function with 3D 
> video cameras, 3D displays, mikes, USB ad nausium/ad vomitus.  And all 
> on one little chip.
> 
> You will need a large staff of computer engineers to sort out your new 
> product and all the embedded processors.  The Silicon Errata shows how 
> these very complex multiprocessor chips will not interact in as friendly 
> a way as the preliminary data sheet might imply.  If you are working 
> with this fine chip you will really really want this Silicon Errata as 
> well as building your own library of otherwise undocumented things that 
> don't work quite as you might expect.  Think of the man-hours you will 
> invest just in staff meetings devoted to discovering how the different 
> parts really interact.
> 
> This fine chip is only available in ball grid array packages.  There is 
> no wire wrapping a prototype with this puppy. Neither can you just sweat 
> solder down a few rows of gull wing lead either. If you thought surface 
> mount took special stuff and skills, the ball grid array takes assembly 
> equipment and skills to a whole new level of frustration.  A high 
> resolution Xray viewer will find those errant solder balls as well as 
> missing solder balls hidden underneath the chip that are keeping it all 
> from working.
> 
> If I send TI a check for $58 I will get back not only one, but if I act 
> now, 10, no, no but wait, if I act really quick, 100 of these fine 
> chips.  Operators are standing by.  Wow! You can get a monster sized 
> headache for only 58 cents apiece.  I suspect the development kit is way 
> beyond the 58 cent chip price.  That developement board/kit could be a 
> hoot if I could only figure it all out.
> 
> I am almost tempted to send off a check so I can pass out these chips at 
> tacos to challenge everyone to build a multifunction radio.  I wonder if 
> they take PayPal?
> 
> Now back to my old SDR-IQ and my Hallicrafters SX-16.
> 
> Frank K0BRA
> 
> 
> 
> Michael O'Dell wrote:
>> the new TI OMAP 3530
>>
>> for $58 quantity 100 you get
>>
>> http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/omap3530.html
>>
>> an Arm Cortex-A8 superscalar ARM with MMU, SIMD, and Jazelle
>> running at 600MHz and addressing a gigabyte of SDRAM
>> and lots of support for NAND and NOR flash and mem cards
>>
>> an "image and video processor block" containing one C64x+ VLIW DSP
>> for video compression and decompression
>>
>> another free-standing C64x+ VLIW DSP for doing baseband processing
>> (this puppy is a rip-snorter, too, with 8 functional units -
>> six serious ALU blocks and two multipliers)
>>
>> a 3D graphics processor good for 10 million polygons/sec
>> with both edge and vertex shaders - this version can generate 720p video
>> two LCD panel interfaces
>>
>> USB 2.0 host and client
>>
>> and enough assorted high-function glue logic to nail on
>> almost anything you can imagine
>>
>> sooooooo - wow. I guess this is the Android springhead, huh.
>> seems like an interesting choice for an SDR project.
>>
>> 	-mo
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