On Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:06:12 +1300, Jim Granville wrote:

> The variablelength UART looks a nice way to solve framing
> problems with sending multiple bytes.

I've done this with FPGAs - interesting to see that it's being provided as
a standard microcontroller peripheral.

Paul.

I see Infineon release (early samples of) another iteration on their 
proven XC166 series, the XC2200 family :

"most of the XC226x�s instructions can be executed
in just one machine cycle which requires 15ns at 66 MHz CPU clock. For 
example, shift and rotate instructions are always processed during one 
machine cycle independent of the number of bits to be shifted. Also 
multiplication and most MAC instructions execute in one single cycle. 
All multiple-cycle instructions have been optimized so that they can
be executed very fast as well: for example, a 32-/16-bit division is 
started within 4 cycles, while the remaining cycles are executed in the 
background. Another pipeline optimization, the branch target prediction, 
allows eliminating the execution time of branch instructions if the 
prediction was correct."

Other features :
Std 64/100/144 pin road map. 60 variants planned
5V supply
Automotive Temp option
448K-768K ECC FLASH
Serious Peripherals [1..63 bit SPI and UARTs ]
up to 6 CAN channels, 6 UARTs

Price guide:
the XC2267 with 448 kBytes of flash memory, -40�C to +125�C
~Euros 5.65 (US-$ 7.35)/20K

The variablelength UART looks a nice way to solve framing
problems with sending multiple bytes.

-jg