Re: Leftover RTX2000 Chips
At 01:24 pm 7/24/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Stephen Pelc writes:
> > >> And you don't want to know how much an RTX2010 costs.
> > > That _was_ his initial question, so I suppose a 'yes' is in order.
> >
> > Depending on version and quantity, from US$1,000 to US$10,000.
>
>The naked _chip_, or a board? This is pretty ridiculous. The Analog
>Devices EZ-LITE kit sells for $179, and some of their DSPs in
>quantities go for $10. Perhaps the world isn't too far away from a
>good $5 computer.
>
Welcome to the world of obsolete semiconductors ;-)
RTX2010's are now only being manufactured by Harris (soon to be Intersil)
in the RTX2010RH type. RH means Radiation Hard so the only people who
are buying them are NASA and the Military (these will be $10000+ in small
quantities) Considering a Mil-spec 8085 costs > $1000 and isn't even Rad-hard
they probably think its a bargain for the speed. The only other Rad-hard
processor that I know of is a version of the 1802 hardly a barn-stormer.
The only other people who buy them are *desparate* to replace a bad chip in
a critical system, or who have a design they only sell <10 of in a year and
cant justify the redesign. The rare semiconductor dealers know this and
charge accordingly.
The reason a DSP chip is unlikely to replace the RTX2010RH in space
applications is that the cost of certification is astronomical. If they
ever do I can guarantee you wont be ably to buy one for $10!
To get back onto the topic of this mailing list Xilinx is manufacturing
Rad-hard FPGAs (QPRO XQR4000XL series) in reasonable sizes (but almost
certainly
astronomical prices ;-) So one of the MISC FORTH processors squeezed in a
FPGA could become popular in a high profile niche market.
Ian
