---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The DINI Group Newsletter
April 2, 2004
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Newsletter – Introduction and apology for last, boring newsletter
* Synopsys to try … yet again …
* FPGA’s on Mars
* DAC – San Diego 2004
* Test – A Challenge to all …
* DN6000k10: 9 VirtexII-Pro FPGA’s (the MONSTER)
* Answer to Challenge
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsletter – Introduction and apology for last, boring newsletter
My last newsletter got panned for being a boring list of marketing/sales
pitches for our
products. I will not make that mistake again. Starting now, I
will tend more towards a
blog with lots of Dini-Opinion. Every newsletter will have, in the
contents, giveaways
that make it worth your while to be the first to find. Only one
item will be a
marketing/sales pitch. Comments are always appreciated. And I
will not be boring. Go
here if you are having trouble sleeping (to the last newsletter):
Newsletter
10/31/04
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Synopsys to try … yet again …
Synopsys
takes another stab at FPGA synthesis
Synopsys is threatening to try, yet again, to enter the FPGA synthesis
market with a product
that is usable. First was ‘Design Compiler’ with bolt-on FPGA
libraries (chuckle, chuckle),
second came ‘FPGA Express’, followed by ‘FPGA Compiler II’. Now
comes ‘Design Compiler
ASIC for FPGAs’. I'm afraid they will run out of names.
FPGA Synthesis, as a market segment,
is crowded territory and Synopsys has not proven that they can compete in
markets that have
competition. Synplicity is clearly the standout leader, and the
Mentor/Exemplar stuff works
well. This new Synopsys program “will enable designers to use the same
tools and potentially
the same design flow for ASIC’s and FPGA’s”. Wow, ummm, OK .. not
sure I want to do that and
if I did it would only save me about 4 minutes ... The high school
lingo appropriate here is
'Whatever, WHATEVER!' I always enjoy press releases containing statements
that are amusing.
Anyway, I wish them luck. Competition is a good thing.
Incidentally, Gary Smith (Dataquest) published some numbers on market
share for FPGA synthesis
that showed Synplicity with 44%, and Mentor/Exemplar with 43%(?). Nearly
equal? Huh? John Cooley
in his regular EE Times column/rant, questions these numbers. I
agree with John’s conclusions
(See: INDUSTRY
GADFLY: "A Certain Lack Of Precision"). I have no
idea where Gary getting his
numbers. In our customer base, the Synplicity to Mentor/Exemplar
ratio has got to be 15 to 1
(or more), so he isn't talking to my customers. The Dataquest
numbers don't pass the smell
test. Gary needs to reassess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FPGA’s on Mars
Several FPGA’s were on the Mars rovers. Space requires radiation
tolerant, high-reliability
components. Designing for space is similar to designing for
‘mission critical’ – you must
use technology that is 3-4 generations old, making the technical task
much, much harder. Xilinx
has some of the 4000 series FPGA’s in the control section. (See
Xilinx
on Mars). Actel has some
products in the MER camera electronics. See:
Mars
Exploration Rover Athena Panoramic Camera
The best description of the problem that occurred on the first rover,
Spirit, is here:
Shedding
light on the Mars rover malfunction. I am a fan of space
exploration. I was relieved
that they found the problem with Spirit and were able to fix it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAC – San Diego 2004
We will be at DAC. This is hardly surprising since it is in our
backyard. If you are visiting San Diego for DAC, stop by and say
hi. I always prefer to be shown around a city by the locals, and
since I am a local, I will be posting a list of things to do, places to
stay, where to eat, etc.
Look for this link in the next newsletter. DAC is June 7-11,
2004. Link is here
DAC-SanDiego-2004. Please
plan to attend. I don't like sitting in the booth by myself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test – A Challenge to all …
I just went through an exercise that took several hours longer than it
should have. Remember the
larger 4-pin Molex power connector on harddrives? We use this
connector on all of our products.
The intent is to enable stand-alone use with cheap ATX-type power
supplies. Ok, I need a smaller
power supply that can be considered ‘portable’. A small,
lightweight, portable power supply proved
to be easy to find since I could get it from DigiKey – a company that is
truly a joy to work with!
Now I needed to get the mating connector so that I could rework it onto
this portable power supply.
I have a part number for the connector from one of our BOM’s:
‘641737’. I know that this is an AMP/Tyco part
(www.amp.com). The
challenge: Find the mating connector and the crimp-style pins
using only the AMP/Tyco web page. Should be easy? This turns
out to be a trick question -- I failed. Try to do this on your own
and tell me and see where it gets you. Read below to see how
I finally got the answer. It took 5 (FIVE!) hours.
(#define RANT_MODE)
So, while the CEO is having Roman-style parties
(CEO
Tyco -- Party on dude!), getting $6000 shower
curtains, and commissioning ice statues that spew vodka from the nether
regions
(The
PARTY!), I spend
5 hours (instead of 5 minutes) searching for the mating part to a
connector. Where do I apply for
this CEO job?
(#undef RANT_MODE).
----LAST MINUTE BULLETIN----
Mistrial
Declared!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DN6000k10 9 VirtexII-Pro FPGA’s (the MONSTER)
We have completed design of the DN6000k10 and are now shipping. This USB-based logic emulation platform contains nine (NINE, 9!) VirtexII-Pro FPGA’s in the FF1704 package. In addition,
there are 12 DDR’s, and 5 FLASH. This is our highest performance product both size speed and
size. It is capable of emulating 6 million ASIC gates (that’s REAL ASIC gates not the marketing-
on-drugs FPGA ‘system gates’). Eight high-speed serial links are included, and RocketI/O's are connected between FPGA’s to allow for high-speed data movement. This one nearly drove my
engineering staff nuts. The layout people are still mumbling incoherently. I'm hoping that
they will be OK. I'll keep you posted. This one is quite a monster. Information is here:
DN6000k10. As is the case with all of our products, ask for a quote. This stuff is cheaper
than you would expect and cheaper than you can build it yourself!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer to Challenge:
Here is what I ended up doing:
-Searched the AMP web page for part number ‘641737’. No luck
-Tried DigiKey for part number ‘641737’.
-Found it and tried to find the information here on the DigiKey site. When I click on the
datasheet tab, I get sent to the AMP web page. I’m in a circular loop. Tried this a few
different ways and gave up.
-Tried to find the Molex equivalent on the Molex web page. No match for part number ‘641737’.
Gave up.
-Go find hard copy of the Molex catalog from 1991. I know that this is a Molex part …
-Went through this catalog page by page until I found the connector. The correct description
is ‘Disk Drive Power Connection System’. Got the mating part number.
-Searched DigiKey for this mating connector (part number turns out to be 15-24-4048).
-Placed the order.
Total time: 5+ hours.
Note: The drawing of the part here (Part Drawing: 641737) from the DigiKey web page identifies
that part as ‘641737’. This is an AMP document. So AMP is not consistent in part numbering
and searching within its own drawings and web pages. The correct AMP/Tyco part number appears
to be ‘641737-1’. I never did figure this out. This turns out to be the key mistake. So if
you do not have the EXACT part number, however arbitrary that may be, you are SOL trying to get
any useful information from the AMP web page.
I hereby nominate AMP as having one of the most user-hostile web pages in the industry. Email
me with other nominations (mailto:mdini@dinigroup.com), along with a short description of why
the site is so hostile. I will verify and publish the winners in future newsletters. This is
the prize sentence I have alluded to earlier. Respond here to get on the list
“Giveaway -- IPOD”. On 4/6/04, I will select 4 names from the respondents and send them an
Apple 15GB iPod ($300 from Amazon!). I would note that anybody who gets this newsletter is
eligible. You don't have to be a customer, and you don't have to be poor, but you can't be a
relative or an employee.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to be removed from this list, click here: mailto:mdini@dinigroup.com?subject=REM0VE.
Mike Dini
President
The DINI Group La Jolla
1010 Pearl Street, Suite #6
La Jolla, CA 92037-5165
Phone: (858) 454-3419 ext. 11
FAX: (858) 454-1728
cellular: (619) 888-9173
home: (858) 454-1026
mailto:mdini@dinigroup.com
http://www.dinigroup.com