[IAEP] Humane Reader is a $20 8-bit PC for TVs

[C. Scott Ananian]

On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 3:04 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr.
<jecel at merlintec.com> wrote:
> C. Scott Ananian wrote on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:30:19 -0400
>> The cost could be further improved by ditching the Atmel AVRs, which
>> are very nice to program, but quite pricey -- especially if you need
>> to use three (!).  Using a single more powerful chip would reduce
>> cost.
>
> That was my point - what is cute from a hobbiest viewpoint isn't what is
> best for the users. It is fun to do video 100% in software on a very
> limited processor, but the custom chip inside the $12 computer
> implementing the NES sprites and fancy backgrounds is much cheaper. For
> a TV based application, I bet a PlayStation 1 level graphics solution
> would cost less than the AVR chip if done in a serious way.

Integrated circuits are really quite marvelous.  They teach you in
school that "you pay for pins, not transistors" -- which means simply
that IC packaging dominates its cost, so you can squeeze lots of
functionality into a chip as long as it fits into the same size
package.

But in practice it's not even quite true that you "pay for pins" --
for small enough ICs, every given IC seems to cost about the same, no
matter what it does or how many pins it has.

My current project used a "minimal" audio design that was "just one
op-amp".  It turns out that the competing "just one integrated codec"
solution was the same price -- with a lot more functionality.
  --scott

-- 
                         ( http://cscott.net/ )