Getting parts seems always to be a hassle fot the hobbyist. That's why I advocate a Roll-yer-own approach using a low-cost family of CPLD or FPGA.

That allows you to build your core to suit the available software you have accumulated, yet build custom peripherals that do what you want, the way you want it. . . all that with no soldering or wiring . . .

Uli

While you're probably quite right in terms of your position relative to the SunPlus people, I favor an approach requiring no compromise on instruction or register set, i.e. I favor building my own part in a low-cost family of FPGA/CPLD via published [www.free-ip.com ( .org?)] or some such. Now, I prefer my own core design over the ones out there for free, but the free ones can be whittled into shape suitable for personal use, too.

Give it some thought. The CPU and a couple of peripherals can fit in a <$40 FPGA/CPLD that you can get at DigiKey.

Uli

It's true, FPGA's/CPLD's are amazing in what they can do for you. But we all reside in our little personal worlds, don't we? I spend my rather long work days developing toys and consumer electronics, and these items are so cost-sensitive that we just don't get to use FPGA's or CPLD's -- we have to bit-bang everything that the $0.15 - $0.20 processor (no joke) doesn't have hardware for. When it comes time to do my own projects at home, my brain is still usually in low-cost microcontroller mode! I do have a Xilinx development system which has been put to very good use on a couple of projects though...

Fortunately the SunPlus line has a fair number of really neat peripherals built-in which make up for a lack of registers and instructions. When I first started I didn't think it would be POSSIBLE to write good code with a crippled instruction set, but I've changed my tune...

-- Brian