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Right Tool for the Job

And what is so rare as a day in June, even if it is only virtual June as I write this? From my point of view, it's a horse race whether Ken Starr will complete his investigation before Windows 98 ships. From your perspective in real-time June, you may already know the answer and have collected on your bets.

Speaking of tempests in teapots, I've discovered that Intel can be a little thin-skinned when it comes to their role in embedded systems. The ad sales folks here at Embedded Systems Programming send a monthly postcard filled with inducements to potential advertisers to lure them into buying ad space in the magazine. One recent postcard suggested that readers of ESP know that the Pentium II just might not be the ideal processor for a set-top box design. Well, that put the Intel PR crew into a tizzy, I can assure you. While I admire Intel's ability to sell its latest chip for well over $700, that pricing model doesn't work so well for embedded systems. Even the cheaper Pentium IIs that go for nearly $200 are way out of range.

I'm not knocking Intel or its fine products. In fact, I'm lusting after a 400MHz Pentium II machine right now. It's just that I can't imagine a set-top box manufacturer-or any other consumer product developer for that matter-willing to spend so much money for a CPU. In time to help me make the point, General Instrument Corp. has announced some contracts it has signed with component suppliers for the DCT-5000+ set-top box, the company's advanced interactive digital cable platform. GI's goal, according to the press release, was "cost-reduction and silicon integration." Intel was not selected to supply the CPU. No big surprise.

Obviously the Pentium II isn't the only choice for consumer applications such as set-top boxes. It's not even the only x86 option. Other x86 chips are available from various vendors for well under $100, all of which are supported by an array of RTOS and development tool vendors. Besides the x86, there are other 32- and 64-bit architectures as well, and they're priced very aggressively. These are the processors you'll find in set-top boxes, game machines, and maybe even the new VW Beetle.

What we see once again is the curious phenomenon that high-end embedded processors go for only a fraction of the price of comparable desktop processors. UltraSPARC II, Alpha, and Pentium II exist at an entirely different price stratum from the more modestly priced MIPS, ARM, SH-4, and other embedded processors, even though their horsepower may be comparable.

If you don't think all this power is necessary in embedded systems, take a look at Jack Ganssle's column this month (p. 111) entitled "Is there a GUI in Our Future?" Ganssle suggests that creeping featurism is driving up the computing power required in many embedded systems. Even so, price is still of the utmost importance. The margin for consumer appliances can be pretty thin, so every penny counts.

You may be wondering what kind of processor General Instrument did select to put into its next generation digital set-top box. GI has selected Quantum Effect Design, Inc. (QED), a MIPS supplier, to provide a 233 MIPS, 175MHz processor for the DCT-5000+. You can bet it's cheaper than a Pentium-and that it won't be going into my new desktop.

    - Lindsey Vereen