Those unobtainable FPGAs?
Turns out I did snap up a few, some months ago. Stuffed 'em in the dry bin, and lost track of what was in there.
Got 20 of the XC3S100E parts: 10 each of commercial and industrial spec. Enough for anything I'd be likely to do with them the next several months. And, come next spring, I can take another look at what's available, at what price, and what capabilities I really need.
I find that I have twice as many RP2040 chips as I'd thought, but I probably want to acquire some more. They're looking to be very useful indeed. (Now, if only they were available in full industrial spec, or better yet automotive!)
Got enough configuration flash chips to go around, in two sizes (overkill for the RP2040, and overkill for the RP2040 plus space for an FPGA image).
Yet to be acquired: proper crystals for the RP2040s, reset/undervoltage chips, sundry connectors and buttons, and reels of commonly-used passives. And... I should probably pick some small FPGA that's somewhat cheap and likely to be available next year, and get a few to play with. Also, time to buy a pile of cheap ARM-based MCUs with low standby power consumption; while they don't have the crazy low battery drain of a late-model ATmega328, they're cheaper and currently a lot more available (and, like the AVR, play nice with the working voltage range of a LiFePO4 cell). There are places the RP2040 isn't suitable, and solar-powered sensor stations would seem to be one of them.
"Few to play with". You have time to mess around?
:-)
Posted by: Rob | Tuesday, 20 September 2022 at 20:40
No time to mess around just now, but I'm hoping to have time during the winter when yard work isn't a thing.
Posted by: Eric Wilner | Tuesday, 20 September 2022 at 20:55
Good luck with that!
Posted by: Rob | Wednesday, 21 September 2022 at 11:47