As FPGAs are reprogrammable, they are often used in developement to try out and debug code (for hardware like this, Verilog and VHDL are very common). On the other hand, ASICs run faster as they are custom built for the specific application (thus the name Application Specific IC). So some trade offs:
The FPGA can be put on the board and reprogrammed thousands of times. The ASIC is what it is when it's built.
FPGAs are more power hungry than ASICs.
Typically an FPGA uses a larger die than an ASIC (that means it costs more). The larger die might also require a larger package (a problem for space constrained designs). That's part of the penalty for reprogrammability.
I can buy 1 or 10 or however many FPGAs for relatively small money. ASICs cost $$$ up front for mask sets and then you have to buy thousands.
I can get FPGAs in days after ordering. ASIC lead times are typically 10+ weeks (if you're a big player, small players could wait 16+ weeks).
When you think of total program cost, that makes FPGAs good for prototype development, small production runs, and systems that will need periodic updates. The ASIC market is suited to applications where the hardware design is stable and the production will be many thousands of units.
As an FPGA, no. NVIDIA et al would find it to expensive. But if they can roll their Verilog/VHDL code into an ASIC without to much trouble, it might be cost effective enough to catch the gamer and CAD markets. And as a side benefit, an ASIC should potentially run even faster thus giving even more amazing performance. In fact, without knowing what these guys are up to, I'd bet that is in their business plan.
I remember back in the days when I was a co-p student working my way through engineering school. I was sharing an apartment with 2 other guys. My 1/3rd share of the rent was more than one of the grizzled old veterans that I worked with was paying for his mortgage. That made a big impression on me regarding the power of compound interest added up on many years of inflation.
I bought my first house 1 year after graduating from college. My present house is valued at >$400k and my monthly mortgage payments are less than some apartments near the local university. In another 10 years, I'll be paying less than apartments in the poorer parts of town will be renting for.
Standard simulation caveat: Garbage in, garbage out.
Good simulators, if properly used, can give clear pictures of what not to do quickly and cheaply. Much quicker and cheaper than building and testing numerous "real" models. However, in most cases, what they tell you is what might work and what should work better than the other options. And they will highlight areas that one should pay particular attention to during prototype and development testing. But the key is that the model(s) must still be validated against the real world.
For instance (and slightly off topic) read the book STIFF - LIFE OF A CADAVER (or something like that, don't recall the correct subtitle). One use of cadavers is crash tests. Some would argue that there is no reason to use cadavers in crash tests as crash forces can be simulated. However, although a researcher might say that "crash x would cause Y g's to the occupant..." there would still remain the question of what Y g's would do to a real occupant. That comes back to the cadaver testing which is our safest way to correlate the models to the real world.
For those that think companies are buying access to the White House or special treatment, one might compare some of the donation levels to see which party the company favors (thus implying which party would best serve the company's special interests)
BIGGEST DONOR LISTED: Ameriquest Capitol (4 divisions worth)
$1M to inaugural, $2.25M to the republicans, $470k to the democrats, $1M to Bush
OIL (for the Iraq invasion fans): T. Boone Pickens $250k for inaugural, $125k to Reps, $1k to Dems, $4k to Bush
Chevron $250k to inaugural, $416k to Rep, $81k to Dems, $23.7k to Bush
Exxon Mobile $250k, $726k, $85k, $72k
Occidental Pertroleum $250k, $296k, $61k, $15k
and so on......
There can definately be a case made for certain companies and industries trying the old "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine." And this is all occuring while the republicans are weakening ethics legislation because their own people (e.g., Tom Delay) are being caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Why not some rail lines? High speed passenger lines between major cities and airports. Smooth double track rail lines for freight. Less environmental impact to build as a few rail lines chew up fewer resources than wide strips of asphalt/concrete. Less impact to operate as loaded trains pollute less than the equivalent numbers of cars/trucks/buses.
Stop building roads to "solve" every transportation issue. Invest in mass transit instead.
And if people don't like the traffic on their roads, they can use the alternatives provided.
It don't matter nun iffin it's a skematic, report, nor memmo, the facts is that the apperrance can say lots about the persons thurowness and attention to detail. If things is messy thin the reeders will have a ritefully lowe opinyun of the person that done the writing. And that goes for gramer and spilling in addishun to all the report/memo content. How mini people can get a interview much les a job if there CV/resume looks like this comment?
As I try to impress on young engineers, neatness counts in all aspects of your job.
Does it work when it's -23 degrees F and the snow is a foot deep?
Does it work when crawling around sand dunes at 110 degrees F with the sun adding additional solar load?
Can it handle the salt spray that it will be exposed to while working a beach?
Can you store it for 8 years in a depot, ship it half way around the world, turn it on and have it operate properly in any of the above environments?
MIL-SPEC equipment has stringent environmental design and testing considerations (with supportin documentation) for a reason. Specifically not all combat operations take place under ideal environmental conditions with support technicians standing by to take your calls.
The Jetta TDI is rated at 42mpg city and 48mpg highway.
The Mazda6 is rated 23mpg city and 31mpg highway.
Definately a factor to consider in your life-time ownership cost considerations.
As an aside for those that don't believe the Jetta TDI has enough HP, in August I did a long road trip with 2 bikes on the roof rack to help mess up the aerodynamics. 48.7mpg averaging about 75mph on state highways. Sounds like plenty of power unless you're looking for tickets.
"Or an atheist student's right to participate in school-sponsored prayer? Or a muslim's right to be given a surprise trip to a tropical carribean island?"
What about the Muslim student's right to participate in an official school-sponsored Christian prayer?
As someone that has done many circuit board designs over the years, I can say that this is _not_ the first 20 layer PWB. Many backplanes for large systems are built with 20 layer or more.
What looks to be new is the fast, cheap, and hopefully environmentaly friendly way to make boards. Also, from the picture, this has to be the thinnest 20 layer board by far - a distinct advantage in light weight hand held devices. But the thin board raises some questions for board designers such as "what is the trace impedance". However, that's one of many details that we won't know the answer to until the technology is commercialized (oooo, a nounized verb!!!)
Don't forget these environmental policies of Dubyah's:
* "We need to thin. We need to make our forests healthy by using some common sense... We need to understand, if you let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you're going to get yourself a big fire. 22 Aug 2002
* "We need to thin our forests" 11 Aug 2003
And further more, one must consider the district (now even more gerrymandered than before, Tnx T. DeLay) that Mr. Paul is representing. If Ron Paul ran as a Libertarian, many of his constituants would think he was running as a Liberal and "No soup for you Ron Paul".
Ditto here in the U.S.A. Even here in central Texas there were anti-invasion protests.
Of course to be fair, Austin is just a bastion of liberalism that had to be gerrymandered into political insignificance by DeLay and company....
And we only found out about Clinton-Lewinsky because the republicant's spent millions of our tax dollars and many years investigating a real estate deal. The only thing we gained from all the time and money spent on the real estate investigation was the amazing fact that a middle aged known womanizer like recieving certain pleasures from a young woman.
Truely amazing.
yes, I find it truely amazing that anyone was startled by that revelation.
The ballots are designed by committees of both republicans and democrats. And to make the FLA ballot worse, it was designed in a way that violated FLA state law. So, queue your favorite joke/diatribe here:
* The intellegence of a meeting is inversly proportional to the number people in attendance. * Politician's aren't very smart. If they were, they'd be able to hold down a real honest job. * Neo-con FUD is used to blame democrats for all voting evils even though they conspire to limit access for "third" parties just as much. * Vote straight party line - it's easier than thinking.
As you will notice from my answers, I am for all the good things and against all the bad things. My opponent, however, isn't for the good things as much as me and he also isn't against the bad things as much. So it is clear that I am more good and he is more bad.
...and will your administration continue with an American policy that is strongly slanted to be pro-Israeli/anti-Palistinian? And if so, how will this improve our reputation with regards the perception held by a large percentage of people in the middle east and the third world?
If you were to legalize your first two catagories, you would, in my opinion, need to have effective testing for "endandering others". We have an attempt at that with alcohol with our DUI/DWI laws. We would need to ensure public safety with similar laws related to the legalized drugs with detrimental physical side effects that have been added to the list. Just as I don't want a drunk driving down the road while I'm also using the road, I don't want someone impared by Marijuana, cocaine, etc on the roads either.
With regards to question #9: Yes, you may play football. Although the ball is called the "pig skin" for historical reasons, modern footballs are clad in either cow hide or plastic. Therefore you will not be violating GOD's law by playing football. In fact, in Dubyah's so called home state of Texas, football is an integral part of religon.
It is not a war on terror. Terror is a tactic used by some groups. Having a war on terror is like having a "war on flanking movements" or a "war on frontal assaults".
What we have today should be referred to as a war on certain religous zealots that do not like the U.S.A. The war should not be limited to military operations against the group (and some countries that may or may not support the group) but should include actions to stem the anti-american sentiment.
So a much better set of questions related to the misnamed "war on terror" might be along the lines of: What will you do do improve the perception of the U.S.A. abroad? How do you plan on removing the financial backing of the anti-U.S. groups? Do you have a plan for reducing the anti-american feelings in the arab world?
and on the military side of the "war", How has the invasion of Iraq detracted from the pursuit of OBL and al Quida as well as other anti-U.S. groups? What are you planning to do to recify the situation?
Slashdot Mirror
More of the engineering development equation...
As FPGAs are reprogrammable, they are often used in developement to try out and debug code (for hardware like this, Verilog and VHDL are very common). On the other hand, ASICs run faster as they are custom built for the specific application (thus the name Application Specific IC). So some trade offs:
The FPGA can be put on the board and reprogrammed thousands of times. The ASIC is what it is when it's built.
FPGAs are more power hungry than ASICs.
Typically an FPGA uses a larger die than an ASIC (that means it costs more). The larger die might also require a larger package (a problem for space constrained designs). That's part of the penalty for reprogrammability.
I can buy 1 or 10 or however many FPGAs for relatively small money. ASICs cost $$$ up front for mask sets and then you have to buy thousands.
I can get FPGAs in days after ordering. ASIC lead times are typically 10+ weeks (if you're a big player, small players could wait 16+ weeks).
When you think of total program cost, that makes FPGAs good for prototype development, small production runs, and systems that will need periodic updates. The ASIC market is suited to applications where the hardware design is stable and the production will be many thousands of units.
As an FPGA, no. NVIDIA et al would find it to expensive. But if they can roll their Verilog/VHDL code into an ASIC without to much trouble, it might be cost effective enough to catch the gamer and CAD markets. And as a side benefit, an ASIC should potentially run even faster thus giving even more amazing performance. In fact, without knowing what these guys are up to, I'd bet that is in their business plan.
I remember back in the days when I was a co-p student working my way through engineering school. I was sharing an apartment with 2 other guys. My 1/3rd share of the rent was more than one of the grizzled old veterans that I worked with was paying for his mortgage. That made a big impression on me regarding the power of compound interest added up on many years of inflation.
I bought my first house 1 year after graduating from college. My present house is valued at >$400k and my monthly mortgage payments are less than some apartments near the local university. In another 10 years, I'll be paying less than apartments in the poorer parts of town will be renting for.
Standard simulation caveat: Garbage in, garbage out.
Good simulators, if properly used, can give clear pictures of what not to do quickly and cheaply. Much quicker and cheaper than building and testing numerous "real" models. However, in most cases, what they tell you is what might work and what should work better than the other options. And they will highlight areas that one should pay particular attention to during prototype and development testing. But the key is that the model(s) must still be validated against the real world.
For instance (and slightly off topic) read the book STIFF - LIFE OF A CADAVER (or something like that, don't recall the correct subtitle). One use of cadavers is crash tests. Some would argue that there is no reason to use cadavers in crash tests as crash forces can be simulated. However, although a researcher might say that "crash x would cause Y g's to the occupant..." there would still remain the question of what Y g's would do to a real occupant. That comes back to the cadaver testing which is our safest way to correlate the models to the real world.
For those that think companies are buying access to the White House or special treatment, one might compare some of the donation levels to see which party the company favors (thus implying which party would best serve the company's special interests)
BIGGEST DONOR LISTED:
Ameriquest Capitol (4 divisions worth)
$1M to inaugural, $2.25M to the republicans, $470k to the democrats, $1M to Bush
OIL (for the Iraq invasion fans):
T. Boone Pickens $250k for inaugural, $125k to Reps, $1k to Dems, $4k to Bush
Chevron $250k to inaugural, $416k to Rep, $81k to Dems, $23.7k to Bush
Exxon Mobile $250k, $726k, $85k, $72k
Occidental Pertroleum $250k, $296k, $61k, $15k
and so on......
There can definately be a case made for certain companies and industries trying the old "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine." And this is all occuring while the republicans are weakening ethics legislation because their own people (e.g., Tom Delay) are being caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Why not some rail lines? High speed passenger lines between major cities and airports. Smooth double track rail lines for freight. Less environmental impact to build as a few rail lines chew up fewer resources than wide strips of asphalt/concrete. Less impact to operate as loaded trains pollute less than the equivalent numbers of cars/trucks/buses.
Stop building roads to "solve" every transportation issue. Invest in mass transit instead.
And if people don't like the traffic on their roads, they can use the alternatives provided.
Let's assume the Cost to develop a good package = $1.25M (5 developers for one year)
If Sales=1000000 units priced at $20 each, profit = huge
ElseIf Sales=20000 you have a dotbomb size deficit
But if price=$250, the break even (not counting the opportunity cost) is 5000 units. At 10k sales, you might have a decent return on investment.
Given the volume of sales on niche software such as Math packages, that's why the sales price needs to be high for a company to invest in development.
Righting as a engineer: neetness Counts.
It don't matter nun iffin it's a skematic, report, nor memmo, the facts is that the apperrance can say lots about the persons thurowness and attention to detail. If things is messy thin the reeders will have a ritefully lowe opinyun of the person that done the writing. And that goes for gramer and spilling in addishun to all the report/memo content. How mini people can get a interview much les a job if there CV/resume looks like this comment?
As I try to impress on young engineers, neatness counts in all aspects of your job.
To expand on #2:
Does it work when it's -23 degrees F and the snow is a foot deep?
Does it work when crawling around sand dunes at 110 degrees F with the sun adding additional solar load?
Can it handle the salt spray that it will be exposed to while working a beach?
Can you store it for 8 years in a depot, ship it half way around the world, turn it on and have it operate properly in any of the above environments?
MIL-SPEC equipment has stringent environmental design and testing considerations (with supportin documentation) for a reason. Specifically not all combat operations take place under ideal environmental conditions with support technicians standing by to take your calls.
Also worth noting is milage.
The Jetta TDI is rated at 42mpg city and 48mpg highway.
The Mazda6 is rated 23mpg city and 31mpg highway.
Definately a factor to consider in your life-time ownership cost considerations.
As an aside for those that don't believe the Jetta TDI has enough HP, in August I did a long road trip with 2 bikes on the roof rack to help mess up the aerodynamics. 48.7mpg averaging about 75mph on state highways. Sounds like plenty of power unless you're looking for tickets.
"Or an atheist student's right to participate in school-sponsored prayer? Or a muslim's right to be given a surprise trip to a tropical carribean island?" What about the Muslim student's right to participate in an official school-sponsored Christian prayer?
As someone that has done many circuit board designs over the years, I can say that this is _not_ the first 20 layer PWB. Many backplanes for large systems are built with 20 layer or more.
What looks to be new is the fast, cheap, and hopefully environmentaly friendly way to make boards. Also, from the picture, this has to be the thinnest 20 layer board by far - a distinct advantage in light weight hand held devices. But the thin board raises some questions for board designers such as "what is the trace impedance". However, that's one of many details that we won't know the answer to until the technology is commercialized (oooo, a nounized verb!!!)
No problem, I'm already bald.
Integral from 10 to 13 of 2*X dx.
You'll have to prove you're a real nerd and solve that one.
Don't forget these environmental policies of Dubyah's: * "We need to thin. We need to make our forests healthy by using some common sense ... We need to understand, if you let kindling build up and there's a lightning strike, you're going to get yourself a big fire. 22 Aug 2002
* "We need to thin our forests" 11 Aug 2003
And further more, one must consider the district (now even more gerrymandered than before, Tnx T. DeLay) that Mr. Paul is representing. If Ron Paul ran as a Libertarian, many of his constituants would think he was running as a Liberal and "No soup for you Ron Paul".
Ditto here in the U.S.A. Even here in central Texas there were anti-invasion protests. Of course to be fair, Austin is just a bastion of liberalism that had to be gerrymandered into political insignificance by DeLay and company....
And we only found out about Clinton-Lewinsky because the republicant's spent millions of our tax dollars and many years investigating a real estate deal. The only thing we gained from all the time and money spent on the real estate investigation was the amazing fact that a middle aged known womanizer like recieving certain pleasures from a young woman.
Truely amazing.
yes, I find it truely amazing that anyone was startled by that revelation.
Wrong-o Buckeroo,
The ballots are designed by committees of both republicans and democrats. And to make the FLA ballot worse, it was designed in a way that violated FLA state law. So, queue your favorite joke/diatribe here:
* The intellegence of a meeting is inversly proportional to the number people in attendance.
* Politician's aren't very smart. If they were, they'd be able to hold down a real honest job.
* Neo-con FUD is used to blame democrats for all voting evils even though they conspire to limit access for "third" parties just as much.
* Vote straight party line - it's easier than thinking.
As you will notice from my answers, I am for all the good things and against all the bad things. My opponent, however, isn't for the good things as much as me and he also isn't against the bad things as much. So it is clear that I am more good and he is more bad.
...and will your administration continue with an American policy that is strongly slanted to be pro-Israeli/anti-Palistinian? And if so, how will this improve our reputation with regards the perception held by a large percentage of people in the middle east and the third world?
If you were to legalize your first two catagories, you would, in my opinion, need to have effective testing for "endandering others". We have an attempt at that with alcohol with our DUI/DWI laws. We would need to ensure public safety with similar laws related to the legalized drugs with detrimental physical side effects that have been added to the list. Just as I don't want a drunk driving down the road while I'm also using the road, I don't want someone impared by Marijuana, cocaine, etc on the roads either.
"changes in outgassing,"
Obviously spending to much time eating frijoles at the local greasy spoon Tex-Mex establishment.
okay, enough of the bad jokes. Back to work.
With regards to question #9: Yes, you may play football. Although the ball is called the "pig skin" for historical reasons, modern footballs are clad in either cow hide or plastic. Therefore you will not be violating GOD's law by playing football. In fact, in Dubyah's so called home state of Texas, football is an integral part of religon.
It is not a war on terror. Terror is a tactic used by some groups. Having a war on terror is like having a "war on flanking movements" or a "war on frontal assaults".
What we have today should be referred to as a war on certain religous zealots that do not like the U.S.A. The war should not be limited to military operations against the group (and some countries that may or may not support the group) but should include actions to stem the anti-american sentiment.
So a much better set of questions related to the misnamed "war on terror" might be along the lines of:
What will you do do improve the perception of the U.S.A. abroad?
How do you plan on removing the financial backing of the anti-U.S. groups?
Do you have a plan for reducing the anti-american feelings in the arab world?
and on the military side of the "war", How has the invasion of Iraq detracted from the pursuit of OBL and al Quida as well as other anti-U.S. groups? What are you planning to do to recify the situation?