Olimex Support Forum

News => New Product Ideas => Topic started by: SK on August 10, 2019, 06:58:31 PM

Title: Microcontroller more powerful than your first PC + lots of peripheral(NXP iMXRT)
Post by: SK on August 10, 2019, 06:58:31 PM
https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy40.html

Branch predictor, FPU supporting double precision (not only single-float), dual-issue superscaler architecture, 600MHz frequency + dynamic clock scaling support, lots of memory, peripherals (CAN FD, USB 2.0, Ethernet, LCD, Camera, I2S, SPDIF, etc), crypto, RNG and more ... in a microcontroller!

The guys behind Teensy 4.0 have done a great job at a minimal board (sold out like hot cakes), but Olimex may be interested in an expanded version with CAN (FD) transivers, battery charger, Ethernet, ports for LCD & camera, uSD, etc

P.s. The exact microcontroller is listed to be NXP iMXRT1062, an ARM Cortex-M7 implementation. here is the NXP product page with more details on the series: https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-microcontrollers/i.mx-rt-series:IMX-RT-SERIES
Title: Re: Microcontroller more powerful than your first PC + lots of peripheral(NXP iMXRT)
Post by: JohnS on August 10, 2019, 07:23:28 PM
Looks like the STM32 offers a wider range of even more powerful CPUs and boards with lots more I/O, too.

John
Title: Re: Microcontroller more powerful than your first PC + lots of peripheral(NXP iMXRT)
Post by: SK on August 11, 2019, 02:10:33 PM
Quote from: JohnS on August 10, 2019, 07:23:28 PM
Looks like the STM32 offers a wider range of even more powerful CPUs and boards with lots more I/O, too.

John

John, can you share more details on this (specific MCU models and boards, links to product pages).

I can see the STM32F7 series going to only 216 MHz, and STM32H7 - to 480 Mhz (+ a second Cortex-M4 core @240MHz for some models).
https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32f7-series.html
https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm32h7-series.html
Title: Re: Microcontroller more powerful than your first PC + lots of peripheral(NXP iMXRT)
Post by: JohnS on August 11, 2019, 06:35:37 PM
There are benchmarks if you care to look but for most purposes they are far faster than needed.  Instead, what's vital for most uC people is lots of I/O which the board you posted lacks.  The effort of making yet-another-ARM board and all the software is big so would need some compelling reason.  Maybe NXP will...

John
Title: Re: Microcontroller more powerful than your first PC + lots of peripheral(NXP iMXRT)
Post by: SK on August 16, 2019, 10:19:00 PM
Here's an STM32-based minimal Cortex-M7 board: https://www.tindie.com/products/webtronics/toasty-480mhz-stm32-usb-development-board/

Agreed on the I/O, that's what my first post suggested - a board with more interfaces usable out-of-the-box is needed (as opposed to just exposed on GPIO pins).
Title: Re: Microcontroller more powerful than your first PC + lots of peripheral(NXP iMXRT)
Post by: SK on September 09, 2019, 10:33:43 PM
Seems something similar already caught Olimex's attention:
https://olimex.wordpress.com/2019/09/03/stm32mp1-nice-candidate-for-new-industrial-grade-olinuxino-lime/

(although it is Cortex A7 + M4 vs the M7 + M4 that the STM32H7 series offers)