venting steam!
A cold review , so far, since I do not have this unit in my hand, yet. Hopefully in the next few days I will finally get my units, which are now in transit, being shipped from Future Electronics. I got the lion's share, hopefully, of the few units available at ~$54 close to the "recommended price of $49 " as stated in the Yahoo (meant for Wall St. PR) article , see
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/090205/ny67216.html?.v=1
&
A cold hearted review since I am already fed up with the waiting for these units to become available to the US distributors, and the shameless price gouging on the very few units finally made available. It is a repeat of the last year Primer 1 launch, when the units became available very late (in US) and distributors ~ doubled the price from the $32 "recommended price"; so anybody wonders why participation in the "primer 1" contest was so lame, and quality of projects so pathetic???. Personally I bought my (primer 1) units only when the prices came back in line (contest be damned) since I take it as a personal offense to be overcharged in this manner.
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So the primer 2 was announced in December and some got their hands on these units by then, somehow .
Until about 4 weeks ago there were NONE available on the US market, with the great Fartnell of UK (did I spell it right ???) being the one and only world wide distributor. An email sent in January to this distributor(as instructed by their web site), requesting a quote for a few units to be sent to US went unanswered to this day.
So about 4 weeks ago Avnet got the incredibly huge number of 4 units which they sold in an instant at $55 and Mouser got 2 which they sold over night at $59.
And then they ALL, more or less, doubled the price , just like last year.
So Meowser got (overwhelmed) with 7 more units which they sold at $100 after finding enough ignorant suckers to pay for them. Now, they must be in some real big doodoo if they hope to redress their balance sheet with~ 7x $50 profit.
Avnet got 8 units , but they only sell in batches of minimum 9 at $71/pcs, so those units are held huddled together for the last 3 weeks hopping that those units might multiply and reach that minimum number of 9.(update there are only 7 left now, so one got stolen or perished of boredom???). But the idea is they just sit there and not being sold
NUHORIZONS is the absolute champion of thick skinned rhino insensitivity after trying to ask $117 initially, now reduced to $107, still finding NO suckers (another 12 units idle).
Digikey got swamped with 2 units , available Worldwide, which they hope to sell for $94 and solve all their financial troubles, for ever. This is not the only ST product ridiculously overpriced: theSTM32 digital photo frame dev kit STEVAL-CCM001V1 was listed in December at $68, now they want $117, so nobody is buying even thou they do have 4 units and that is all stock available Worldwide; I guess one unit for each continent of some relevance for electronic industry.
Arrow, got 8 units, but they love them so much they want to keep them for themselves, because the parts have never been priced and listed for sale online. Or maybe they sell them "under the table": "how much are you willing to pay???".
Boy!!! you can write a Hollyweird slapstick comedy on this subject!!! It's not funny rather, but a nuisance!
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Compare that with (just for example) the Renesas Server Design Contest of 2008 when dev. kits were made available in time and decent number, at stated price; not only that , but many, many units were distributed for free.
see
http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/2008/0 … n-contest/
And Luminary Cortex M3 contest of 2006, and examples can go on.
These Primers you can't get them, ON TIME, even paying good, real, money (but not accepting to be taken for a sucker and overcharged).
I read on the STM32 circle forum that the Raisonance business model is to create low cost and fun dev kits. Which are indeed a standout from the rest of the bunch on the dev. kits market. And since some of these units appear on the market close to the prices originally stated means that Raisonance indeed sells them at low cost. But the delays and the scarcity of product allows the distributors to sabotage the whole idea by overcharging , imposing absurd minimum number of units on each order, or other ridiculous conditions. Other semiconductors companies, US based mostly, seem to be very effective in keeping the distributors in check, from overcharging on dev kits, and prices do not vary more 15% from the intended target price.
Need I remind to those in charge of marketing, at STM, that the purpose of these development kits is not as a consumer "end product", but to create a BASE of developers, knowledgeable of the hardware and the programming , capable of designing new consumer products which would create the (large) demand for the ST chips.Even 10,000 units of overpriced Primers will not redress the bottom line , neither for STM nor for distributors. But some creative new products inspired by these dev kits, could indeed make a difference.
And that means you have to do all it takes to get them in the hands of those developers interested; keeping them just sitting there in warehouse is not helpful for anybody.
And to those interested in buying these units, I say: you got to stand up to be counted, and speak up your mind if you want to be heard. That ~ $49 price is in no way a favor to you, but a fair price , given the intended purpose. So demand this issue of pricing and availability to be set straight with the distributors by STM.
I got my units at the fair price I wanted, so I'm done; if you want yours, then you got to speak up.
The shape and feature of the Primer2 tells that the primary target is the "toys and trinkets" makers, and as such you should compare the price to those of similarly featured "toys and trinkets".In fact the big difference is that those toys are much cheaper and have better controls but unfortunately you can not get access to the interfaces on the chips (SPIs, I2C,UART, ADCs , JTAG) since in most cases are Chip-on-Board COB type and are very difficult to rewire & reprogram as such and turn them in to something more useful.
see for example
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js … Id=2373746
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js … Id=2373747
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js … Id=3037257
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js … Id=3104361
and best of all:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js … Id=3055755
Note: These kind of toys,bought at (steep) discount stores or liquidations are sometimes good for hacking or chop for really cheap parts.
So if STM is indeed interested in the trinkets market (and should be, given the sheer numbers produced) maybe wouldn't be a bad idea for STM and Raisonance to team up with one of these "learning systems" trinketeers (LeapFrog, Vtech or others) .
As such the the trinketeers would get early access to new chips with new features and a development platform.
STM would get a large order for their chips. Raisonance would benefit from the reduced cost of a mass produced device; with a limited "tinkerers edition" (ok,ok, development kit) of the trinketeer's toys , which would include the Rlink, and extension connector for access to features such as SPIs, I2C,UART, ADCs, DACs, Timers, PWM.
And all would benefit from the sheer numbers of tinkerers as free/unpaid developers who could come up with creative radical new ideas .
I suggest reading this old article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co … 38_pf.html
Ok!
So, now I'm done venting steam,but I hope I'm not talking to the walls.
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Update:
Finally, I got my Primer2 units; and the price is right!!!
But Future Elec. raised the price to $78.65 USD for future buyers, ;just as I expected.
At first, quick, examination, it is obviously much improved from the primer one.
I am most happy about the joystick and touch screen & buttons since now the device can be used in a stationary position also. The microSD is another good addition I like.
I am not much taken by the addition of the (lousy) audio codec; as far as I'm concerned it takes up a "could have been useful" SPI port, but, I guess, trinketeers must have their favorite features too.
Is it "just the way I wanted"?.
Closer than Primer1, "but no cigar" yet.
Maybe Primer3 ??? with STM32F107 chip OTG USB and features that do not overlap on the same pins, and more (or better: ALL) interfaces accessible out to the connector(s)???.
Now, seriously, think about that alliance with the trinketeers!Could keep down the manufacturing cost.
The extension connector is a great improvement also, but it gives VERY limited access to features on the chip.
The schematics is really quite hairy, it drives me nuts.
I spent a few hours in front of 2 screens to try to figure out what goes where in term of pins of the connector to pins of the STM32 chips and what features can be really accessed.
Somebody who worked on the hardware or has a very good grasp, already, on this issue, should make a clear table/chart , like:
connector pin no-->STM32 chip pin no = primary & alternate functions
And maybe another of the type :
ADCs = available on connector pins: ......( x y z.).
SPI=available on connector pins.......
UART= available on connector pins..........
I2C = available on connector pins.....
CAN = available on connector pins......
Timers = available on connector pins.......
PWM = available on connector pins........
and what feature are overlapping , mutually exclusive (use one or the other but not both) or can be used together.
So far, so good!
Have fun! All , (lucky enough to have gotten your Primers, at whatever price).
PS
Look again at that game toy DIDJ ( LINUX core, rumored to be based on the STM Nomadik STn8811 or STn8815, 393Mhz ARM926EJ-S)
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js … Id=3055755
http://andrey.thedotcommune.com/2008/11 … cking.html
http://elinux.org/Didj
and look what is inside for that $59 price (Costco dumped them at $26/ bundle with games during Xmas sales) ;
compare to primer2.
Now you have a reference to compare to.
$49 is the real price of primer2 as stated in the article, anything above that is distributor markup or rather price gouging. Now you know!
) 