jdr wrote:

> So the heads up is the XAG49 DEVICE is being obsoleted.  This
> information will be released in the June 2006 EOL notice from Philips.

Typical Philips trick. The answer is never use a Philips device unless 
it's multi- sourced. Remember 5V Coolrunners?

They also screwed up the XAG49 quite seriously, in that it was only pink 
and pattable if it was standalone. The external bus was expanded to 24 
bit, and shuffled around, so you couldn't just drop it into an 8051 
system and up the performance. There were also very few compilers, and 
those that could use the expanded addressing mode were seriously expensive.

So they sold it to a few big firms for a few big projects. It's a 
powerful processor but powerfully thirsty too. So as the few products it 
was built into reach end of life, out the window it goes.

Paul Burke

Jim Granville wrote:

> There are plenty - 
> What features of the XA are important ?

If you want to avoid too much re-design, there are a couple
of close-physical choices :

Just announced today :
http://www.eeproductcenter.com/micro/brief/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301307

  They claim this will be in TQFP/PLCC44 and socket compatible with std 
C51 [needs 3.3V vcc]. (IIRC, the XA49 was std pinout, in on-chip-memory 
mode ? ) $4 in volume, probably for the smallest variant.

and also the Dallas DS89C4x family (5V only)

-jg

jdr wrote:
> You won't see this on the Philips website.  I found out through one of
> the guys inside after emailing tech support.
> 
> So the heads up is the XAG49 DEVICE is being obsoleted.  This
> information will be released in the June 2006 EOL notice from Philips.
> Our Arrow sales rep tells me they sell approximately 3000 of these per
> month so they're not exactly slow movers.

That's into what geographic area ?
3K/mo is very small volumes, on a FAB scale.

> 
> I find this out JUST after finishing up a new product designed around
> this chip.  

Why choose this device for a new design ?
Did your Disti know you were starting a new design with this ?
The obvious response would be to steer you to the LPC2xx family.

I have seen a little red graphic on the XA family on the Philips
web for a while, and figured that means NFND...


> So yeah, I'm slightly pissed.  Maybe, just maybe, if enough
> people raised hell they might change their mind.
> 
> Anyway, good luck to everyone that has incorporated this chip into
> their design.  As for me, I'm going to go jump off a cliff.  In the
> event that I don't die, got any suggestions for replacements?

There are plenty - you do know about the Philips LPC2xx series ?
What features of the XA are important ?

-jg

You won't see this on the Philips website.  I found out through one of
the guys inside after emailing tech support.

So the heads up is the XAG49 DEVICE is being obsoleted.  This
information will be released in the June 2006 EOL notice from Philips.
Our Arrow sales rep tells me they sell approximately 3000 of these per
month so they're not exactly slow movers.

I find this out JUST after finishing up a new product designed around
this chip.  So yeah, I'm slightly pissed.  Maybe, just maybe, if enough
people raised hell they might change their mind.

Anyway, good luck to everyone that has incorporated this chip into
their design.  As for me, I'm going to go jump off a cliff.  In the
event that I don't die, got any suggestions for replacements?