Hi information from reliable source (but not verified by actual test- purchases): "Actel silicon with and without Cortex-M1 enable option cost exactly the same, not a penny more" I requested to verify and repeat that claim, and the source did stand to it. If this is really so - this can only be verified when buying Actel M1 silicon and non-M1 at same time from same vendor, then it means that there really is no hidden fee any more in the ARM softcore. let me remind that while Actel also claimed M7 to be "free" the actual M7 enabled silicon cost 1 USD (qty 100k) or 100 USD (qty 1) more then silicon without M7 AES key. Antti
Actel Cortex FPGAs, real change of ARM licensing - 0.000 cost to user!!!
Started by ●September 21, 2007
Reply by ●September 21, 20072007-09-21
> "Actel silicon with and without Cortex-M1 enable option cost exactly > the same, not a penny more"Great news. I'll give it a go with my Fusion kit once I have some spare time to kill. Stay put for an update on this. Regards, Manny
Reply by ●September 21, 20072007-09-21
On 21 Sep., 10:30, Manny <mlou...@hotmail.com> wrote:> > "Actel silicon with and without Cortex-M1 enable option cost exactly > > the same, not a penny more" > > Great news. I'll give it a go with my Fusion kit once I have some > spare time to kill. Stay put for an update on this. > > Regards, > Mannyhm, as far as i understood the M1 enabled silicon is still sold as separate M1 enable chip so it is not possible to load non-M1 chips with cortex design :( only that the M1-enable option doesnt cost any extra. sure it would much nicer to just load the cortex design to any actel chip, but will not be the case Antti
Reply by ●September 21, 20072007-09-21
> sure it would much nicer to just load the cortex design to any actel > chip, but will not be the caseDamn it! I knew this was too good to be true. Thanks for the clarification though Antti. Manny
Reply by ●September 23, 20072007-09-23
Antti <Antti.Lukats@googlemail.com> writes:> If this is really so - this can only be verified when buying Actel M1 > silicon and non-M1 at same time from same vendor, then it means that > there really is no hidden fee any more in the ARM softcore.No, it may mean that the chip vendor is absorbing the license cost, and making more profit on the non-M1.
Reply by ●September 24, 20072007-09-24
On 23 Sep., 21:54, Eric Smith <e...@brouhaha.com> wrote:> Antti <Antti.Luk...@googlemail.com> writes: > > If this is really so - this can only be verified when buying Actel M1 > > silicon and non-M1 at same time from same vendor, then it means that > > there really is no hidden fee any more in the ARM softcore. > > No, it may mean that the chip vendor is absorbing the license cost, and > making more profit on the non-M1.well, no, as the non-M1 silicon was available before the Cortex agreement. so if the actel FPGA have now M1 option, and the price of normal silicon has not changed then it would mean there are no hidden cost at all. but it is to be seen, what the prices will be when M1 enabled chips actually become available Antti
Reply by ●September 24, 20072007-09-24
Antti wrote:> On 23 Sep., 21:54, Eric Smith <e...@brouhaha.com> wrote: > >>Antti <Antti.Luk...@googlemail.com> writes: >> >>>If this is really so - this can only be verified when buying Actel M1 >>>silicon and non-M1 at same time from same vendor, then it means that >>>there really is no hidden fee any more in the ARM softcore. >> >>No, it may mean that the chip vendor is absorbing the license cost, and >>making more profit on the non-M1. > > > well, no, as the non-M1 silicon was available before the Cortex > agreement. > so if the actel FPGA have now M1 option, and the price of normal > silicon > has not changed then it would mean there are no hidden cost at all. > > but it is to be seen, what the prices will be when M1 enabled chips > actually become availableYes, it's only really free, if they Paid ARM nothing for it :) Anything else has to be paid for somehow! Even the existance of a special device and part number, is a cost for customers and distributors. Note this is a simpler M1 core, not an M3 core. There was also a comment IIRC about the Debug option being quite large, so that pushes up your FPGA size, as most designs will want to have debug ability... -jg
Reply by ●September 26, 20072007-09-26
I wrote:> No, it may mean that the chip vendor is absorbing the license cost, and > making more profit on the non-M1.Antti wrote:> well, no, as the non-M1 silicon was available before the Cortex > agreement. > so if the actel FPGA have now M1 option, and the price of normal > silicon > has not changed then it would mean there are no hidden cost at all.I don't see how that precludes the possibility that Actel may be choosing to absorb the Cortex license cost when they sell you an M1-enabled part.
Reply by ●October 25, 20072007-10-25
On Sep 21, 12:09 am, Antti <Antti.Luk...@googlemail.com> wrote:> Hi > > information from reliable source (but not verified by actual test- > purchases): > > "Actel silicon with and without Cortex-M1 enable option cost exactly > the same, not a penny more" > > I requested to verify and repeat that claim, and the source did stand > to it. > > If this is really so - this can only be verified when buying Actel M1 > silicon and non-M1 at same time from same vendor, then it means that > there really is no hidden fee any more in theARMsoftcore. > > let me remind that while Actel also claimed M7 to be "free" the actual > M7 enabled silicon cost 1 USD (qty 100k) or 100 USD (qty 1) more then > silicon without M7 AES key. > > AnttiAntti et al, Antti is correct our pricing model for the M1 (ARM enabled Cortex-M1) products is to offer them at the same price as our regular ProASIC3, Igloo and Fusion device prices. Basically ARM enabled for free. However it should be noted than we do not set final resales for our devices through distribution so you may see small variations in price (for all products) which are not under Actel's control. Martin Mason Actel Corp.
Reply by ●October 26, 20072007-10-26
On 25 Okt., 19:38, martin_pa...@yahoo.com wrote:> On Sep 21, 12:09 am, Antti <Antti.Luk...@googlemail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > Hi > > > information from reliable source (but not verified by actual test- > > purchases): > > > "Actel silicon with and without Cortex-M1 enable option cost exactly > > the same, not a penny more" > > > I requested to verify and repeat that claim, and the source did stand > > to it. > > > If this is really so - this can only be verified when buying Actel M1 > > silicon and non-M1 at same time from same vendor, then it means that > > there really is no hidden fee any more in theARMsoftcore. > > > let me remind that while Actel also claimed M7 to be "free" the actual > > M7 enabled silicon cost 1 USD (qty 100k) or 100 USD (qty 1) more then > > silicon without M7 AES key. > > > Antti > > Antti et al, > > Antti is correct our pricing model for the M1 (ARM enabled Cortex-M1) > products is to offer them at the same price as our regular ProASIC3, > Igloo and Fusion device prices. Basically ARM enabled for free. > > However it should be noted than we do not set final resales for our > devices through distribution so you may see small variations in price > (for all products) which are not under Actel's control. > > Martin Mason > Actel Corp.- Zitierten Text ausblenden - > > - Zitierten Text anzeigen -Hi Martin, thanks for OFFICIAL statement, my original info was also from inside Actel but from not as high level ;) This is REALLY good news. M1P250 seems like really nice little bastard, and if there is no ARM license fee, really nice. I was REALLY disappointed with the free-M7 story, the reseller add over 100 USD per IC for the "free ARM license" and they also told that this fee is forced by Atmel and they reseller has no control over it. I would have even paid that extra 100, but if you want to play with Actel M7, you really cant just buy one sample chip, I have tried and failed. So from what I understand in the case of M1 the resellers should not charge extra 100 USD for the "M1" logo on IC, that nice! Antti
