mbed NXP LPC1768 free samples

[Polossatik]

just requested one, the page said ;

"Thank you! Your request for an NXP mbed Design Challenge contest kit has been accepted. You should receive an email confirming that your contest kit has shipped within one week. Good luck!"

I did not lie or so , just stated my current employer (nothing to do with embedded systems)
Ha, an non-US by the way.

[veryevil]

I just got

Thank you! Your request for an NXP mbed Design Challenge contest kit has been accepted. You should receive an email confirming that your contest kit has shipped within one week. Good luck!

So fingers crossed.

[pdunz]

Got the same message, just have to sit and wait.  Non US too.

[David]

I got the same message too.

[Nermash]

Has anyone received shiping confirmation yet?

[ElektroQuark]

Not here.

[Hypernova]

Hm... wonder if I would be eligible, Masters student at UQ doesn't sound very convincing.

Heck, I'm still waiting for my MSP430.

[Zero999]

The siren song of microcontrollers grows stronger as I struggle to solidify my understanding of TTL. At this rate I'll have a dozen dev boards to learn by the time I'm ready to dive in. What the heck, it's free after all!

Who uses TTL these days? It's crap, there's no reason to, even the LS series is obsolete. Anyway, it's not too hard to understand, you just need to know the BJT basics

For simple glue logic where an MCU is not economic, use CMOS: CD4000 series is still handy because it works from 3V to 12V but is slow and has low output currents, 74HC for everything else. I think CMOS is also easier to understand, start by looking at internal schematic for a simple NOT gate, then work up to NAND and NOR.

All right back on topic.

I haven't signed up. I've only just got into PICs (basline 12F5xx and 16F5xx devices) I don't think I'm ready for this and would rather give others who are the opportunity to learn more or do you lot think I should just go for it?

[74HC04]

Has anyone received shiping confirmation yet?

Not here yet either...

[JohnS_AZ]

Nothing here either.

Oh, and I -love- TTL. 

I wouldn't design product or commercial stuff with it, but it's kind of like digital Lego blocks for me.
Some people do Sudoku puzzles, I enjoy solving logic problems with gates and counters.

[Zero999]

Nothing here either.

Oh, and I -love- TTL. 

I wouldn't design product or commercial stuff with it, but it's kind of like digital Lego blocks for me.
Some people do Sudoku puzzles, I enjoy solving logic problems with gates and counters.

I'm not sure if you understood what I meant.

It's not discrete logic I have a problem with, it's great to build with digital Lego blocks and solve logic problems with gates and counters, hell you'll find them in many commercial products. There's no point in spending money and time in programming a FPGA or microcontroller when the problem can be solved with a couple of logic gates.

What I meant is that I think TTL is shit. It uses loads of power, has a low fanout, low impedance inputs, high saturation outputs and is very is picky about the power supply voltage. There is absolutely no reason to use it in any modern design. Replace TTL with HCT logic (even LS is no good). CMOS is cheaper, lower power and is now faster too. Throw away those old 7400s and replace them with a decent ICs such as the 74HC00 or 74HTC00, if it requires to accept TTL inputs, although that shouldn't be necessary if you don't have any old ICs.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion: prefer TTL if you like but don't expect me to understand why.

[logictom]

I applied late last week at some point, remember some message about hearing something within a week not sure what though - slept since then.
Should be hearing within the next two days I guess if I was successful.
I put down the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth - tax dodging student

[JohnS_AZ]

Oh, we're pretty much on the same page. I thought you were one of the 'anti-logic, throw a micro at everything' people.  
Sorry, my mistake. I do use a fair amount of TTL because I have a couple thousand chips of a hundred or so varieties. Anything I buy now is HC/HTC (can you even buy straight TTL parts any more?).

There's no point in spending money and time in programming a FPGA or microcontroller when the problem can be solved with a couple of logic gates

It's funny, I would argue that that's not always the case. I was recently working on a project that needed an RS-232 control circuit comprised of one 2-input OR gate, and one SPST logic switch (AND gate). Instead of using 2 cmos logic chips I used an 8-pin PIC. A few lines of code to do the logic and I saved power, saved board space, eliminated a BOM line item, and presented a cute challenge to anyone trying to reverse engineer the circuit.   It's all about the application.

[slburris]

These days you can pick up a CPLD for $1 so I just have a tube of those
and can replace pretty much any jelly bean TTL logic.  Less parts to
have to keep around or order.

If you are just starting out, there's nothing like learning with actual gates
that you can touch.  Once you are beyond that though, I would argue
than 74XX of any family is essentially dead except for very simple or specialized
cases, to be replaced by some mix of micros, CPLDs and FPGAs.  I occasionally
use the single gate chips as well as the voltage translating bidirectional buffers
to go between say 5v and 3.3v logic, but that's about it.

Now if you are just in love with 74XX series stuff, check out these chips,
74XX at 1Ghz speeds!:

http://www.potatosemi.com/

But I agree that the choice comes down to what's the best fit for the application.
I was looking at the most recent issue of Nuts & Volts and there's a page
about building a countdown timer for a basketball game.  The circuit
is a 555 driving a string of counters followed by 7 segment decoders.  But nooooo, this
is how to build it in 1972, not 2010!  This application calls for a 40pin micro
and some driver transistors.  Many fewer chips, more reliable.  The count
frequency is clearly within the capability of any micro.  Now if you're going
off on some retro design thingy, that's another story.  And yes, I suppose you
could argue that N&V's audience is the absolute beginner and how else do you
learn without going down to the gate level?

When's the last time you saw new circuits using those hot new RTL and DTL chips?
Heck, how many people even see ECL designs these days?

And there are some applications where discrete gates just aren't going to cut it.
Trying doing a state machine with 74XX?  Good luck!  Even back in the day,
many state machines were done with counters driving bipolar PROMs.  Actually
I have seen a state machine with TTL logic, an 18" X 18" board stuffed with chips!

Anyway, my 3 cents.

Scott

[rossmoffett]

One week is up and no shipping confirmation yet.

[logictom]

From the element14 website:

Hi All,
 
I spoke to Circuit Cellar, and the situation is this :
 
All of the complimentary boards have been claimed. The competition is still open, but entrants will need to source thier own mbed Microcontroller now. They logistics of dispatching this much kit is quite involved, and they are working flat out trying to get it all out the door. They are currently shipping mbed Microcontrolelrs as fast as they can, then sending confirmations at the end of the week.
 
So by the sounds of it, if you applied before they closed it off, you'll get you mbed Microcontroller, but it might take a little time.
 
Hope that helps,
Chris

So it sounds like there is hope yet

[Zero999]

Oh, we're pretty much on the same page. I thought you were one of the 'anti-logic, throw a micro at everything' people.  
Sorry, my mistake. I do use a fair amount of TTL because I have a couple thousand chips of a hundred or so varieties. Anything I buy now is HC/HTC (can you even buy straight TTL parts any more?).

Lol, someone accused me of being exactly the opposite a few of days ago.

It's funny, I would argue that that's not always the case. I was recently working on a project that needed an RS-232 control circuit comprised of one 2-input OR gate, and one SPST logic switch (AND gate). Instead of using 2 cmos logic chips I used an 8-pin PIC. A few lines of code to do the logic and I saved power, saved board space, eliminated a BOM line item, and presented a cute challenge to anyone trying to reverse engineer the circuit.   It's all about the application.

If you'd given it more thought it might've been possible to narrow it down to a single IC or even some diode logic but I haven't seen the circuit or truth table so you could just as easily be right.

I'm not pro or anti MCU, just a pragmatist, I'm pro-MCU when it makes sense but anti-MCU when it doesn't. You raise some valid points about board space and reverse engineering, although if it's really simple any idiot can figure it out, with or or without the code or reverse engineering. As far as cost is concerned, did you check the prices? I notice that I can buy four quad logic ICs for the price of the cheapest MCU at my local supplier. Is this going to be mass produced or is it just a few?

These days you can pick up a CPLD for $1 so I just have a tube of those
and can replace pretty much any jelly bean TTL logic. 

I notice that people in RD and hobbyists alike often keep a stock of generic parts for convenience sake, i.e. there's no point in stocking 100s of different logic ICs, just stock one CPLD, if even some designs often work out more costly. For example, there could be a simple problem which could be solved with a 74HC00 which may cost less than a tenth of the price of your cheapest CPLD but you'll throw the CPLD at it anyway because it's what you have in your junk box. The extra cost is nothing to you and is well worth the convenience of having less clutter and you're not making 1000s of them so it's not an issue.

[baljemmett]

And there are some applications where discrete gates just aren't going to cut it.
Trying doing a state machine with 74XX?  Good luck!  Even back in the day,
many state machines were done with counters driving bipolar PROMs.  Actually
I have seen a state machine with TTL logic, an 18" X 18" board stuffed with chips!

I have a sudden vision of how my long-term "hey, I'll build a homebrew computer, why not?" project is going to turn out   I used a microcode ROM when I put one together in a simulator at university years ago, but this time (due to lack of ROM programmer, aided and abetted by sheer bloody-mindedness) I'll be trying to put the instruction decode/sequencing logic together out of 74HC parts...

Back on the original topic, chalk me up as another who filled in the form and got a message saying I should get confirmation of despatch in a week; nothing yet, but since I got in well before the applications closed I won't give up hope yet.  Got a few ideas for things to try with it but will have to look to see what sort of nice-to-work-with graphical LCD modules are around for most of them!

[JohnS_AZ]

Well, a 12F509 costs 70 cents. A 74HC08 is 30, and a 74HC32 is 24 (54 cents) so I paid a 16 cent per unit premium to use the PIC. But, the PCB was through-hole so moving from 2 14-pin chips to 1 8-pin chip was a significant space reduction. Further, the boards (a few hundred) were hand assembled at a job shop, so the reduced pin count was a labor savings.

(tap-dancing around confidentiality)
The serial signals were coming from a legacy system at 1200 baud so switching resolution was easily handled by the PICs internal 1MHz clock (the PIC was programmed in machine code).

If you'd given it more thought it might've been possible to narrow it down to a single IC or even some diode logic but I haven't seen the circuit or truth table so you could just as easily be right.

Hmm. Maybe, I don't know. The resulting part looked like this...

[Zero999]

Well, a 12F509 costs 70 cents. A 74HC08 is 30, and a 74HC32 is 24 (54 cents) so I paid a 16 cent per unit premium to use the PIC. But, the PCB was through-hole so moving from 2 14-pin chips to 1 8-pin chip was a significant space reduction. Further, the boards (a few hundred) were hand assembled at a job shop, so the reduced pin count was a labor savings.

(tap-dancing around confidentiality)
The serial signals were coming from a legacy system at 1200 baud so switching resolution was easily handled by the PICs internal 1MHz clock (the PIC was programmed in machine code).

If I went for a PIC, I would've chosen the 12F508 (though hole) or the 10F200 (surface mount).

Here's my discrete logic idea. Of course you might not need all the extra OR gates but I decided to use them to buffer the diode AND which I know is lossy and high impedance so is probably no good for driving long cables and the gates are on the IC, so you lose nothing.

Now I understand that the reduced labour costs may outweigh the extra cost for a small production run but if you get 1000s made it's probably a different matter.+

I also had a crazy idea using the 74HC4016 quad switch but I haven't posted it because it wasn't as effective, even though it used less components: only one resistor in addition to the IC.

[Zad]

Check your emails guys, I got this in my in-box today:

Hello,

Thanks for your interest in the NXP mbed Design Challenge! Your mbed NXP LPC1768 contest kit has shipped.

 If you are a resident of the USA, your kit shipped via USPS first class mail.

If you have a Can/Mex/Foreign address your kit shipped via FIMS (FedEx International Mail Service). You should anticipate its arrival within 3 weeks. However, we cannot determine how long a package stays in customs in your particular country.   

All kits ship in a yellow bubble mailer, 6”x10”, weighing 4oz. There are no tracking #’s on ANY shipments so please do not call us to inquire about status.

Remember the contest deadline is at 1:00 PM (EST) on February 28, 2011.

For some inspiring words on the mbed NXP LPC1768 prototyping board, use the link below to download a PDF of Tom Cantrell's Circuit Cellar article, “Easy (E)mbed: An Alternative Approach to Embedded Programming.”

Start prototyping the mbed way

Mike

[Hypernova]

Check your emails guys, I got this in my in-box today:

Got nothing, guess I didn't make the cut.

[Strube09]

haha,

just got this today:

You are receiving this message because we have received and accepted your
request for a complimentary NXP mbed LPC1768 prototyping board. We are
working diligently to expedite shipments as quickly as possible. Your
patience is appreciated as we wait for the second installment of NXP contest
kits to arrive from the sponsor, no later than October 8, 2010.
 
Confirmation that your contest kit has shipped will be emailed shortly
thereafter

[ElektroQuark]

There is mine:

You are receiving this message because we have received and accepted your
request for a complimentary NXP mbed LPC1768 prototyping board. We are
working diligently to expedite shipments as quickly as possible. Your
patience is appreciated as we wait for the second installment of NXP contest
kits to arrive from the sponsor, no later than October 8, 2010.

 

Confirmation that your contest kit has shipped will be emailed shortly
thereafter. For some inspiring words on the mbed NXP LPC1768 prototyping
board in the meantime, use the link below to download a PDF of Tom
Cantrell's Circuit Cellar article, "

<http://www.circuitcellar.com/nxpmbeddesignchallenge/Cantrell-227.pdf> Easy

(E)mbed: An Alternative Approach to Embedded Programming."

[marianoapp]

i got one of those delayed shipment emails too