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SOFT CELL

by Tom Cantrell

Start ı Start Making Sense ı Viva La Difference ı No Free Lunch ı Tool Sweet ı Real Time or Hard Time? ı Small Step, Big Journey ı Sources and PDF

SMALL STEP, BIG JOURNEY

Technically, ProMic doesnıt really stand out from the crowd. Itıs somewhere in the middle of the pack between more polished commercial offerings and the hodge-podge of freeware soft-cores floating about.

The things I like about ProMic are more business than technical. I like the simple retail pricing model, which allows you to spend time and money on your design, not marathon negotiating sessions. I like the overt commitment to portability across different hardware, something you wonıt find from a particular chip supplier. I like the point-and-click selection of implementation options for easy tuning of price and performance for a particular application. I like the fact that Microlor is at least making an effort to soothe usersı legal concerns, although thereıs probably nothing they, or anyone, can do to totally alleviate them.

Is ProMic a major breakthrough? No. But it is one more step towards the promise and potential posed by field-programmable SoCsılike a high mountain peak thatıs a worthy goal towards which every step, no matter how small, counts.

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