8-bit MicrocontrollersのトピックRe: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

bongosai — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:14:40 GMT

The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge rewards the most inventive designs made with Freescale's low-end microcontrollers.

Go to the Black Widow Design Challenge site for more information

Any questions? Post them in this thread; we opened it to answer your questions about the Black Widow Design Challenge directly!

(**not intended to answer technical questions**)

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

peg — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:50:40 GMT

Hi,

Q1. Why is most of the world excluded?

Q2. Why don't the links work on the referenced site?

Peg

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

bongosai — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 06:23:34 GMT

Hi Peg,

Hosting a design challenge of this type at a World-wide level poses a number of legal complications to comply to different countries and regions regulations . So while this design challenge focuses on US, Canada, and Mexico ... other contests and initiatives will cover other parts of the world at other times...

The challenge officially starts on January 15th, so only at that point will all links be active and all documents posted

Laura

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

Jaux — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:01:41 GMT

Design Competition - great idea,

Creating stepchildren - BAD idea.

Freescale has become the leader in manufacturing bleeding-edge technology because everybody in the free world pushed the devices in designs, many times against fierce opposition and accusations of single-minded loyalty.

Being involved with Freescale ( and of course Motorola ) for more than 20 years and the creation of countless designs directly and indirectly, this exclusion is a slap in the face.

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

Jaux — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:22:42 GMT

On second thought - I think we "outsiders" will run our own competition. Unfortunately this will not be open to residents of the US, Mexico and Canada, hovever - Nous ne distinguons pas contre les citoyens du Québec

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

Janguiano — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:23:10 GMT

Yes, we at Freescale would have loved to include the entire world. However, at this date we were simply not able to do so. However, we do anticipate that in the future we will make similar challenges available in different parts of the world. We hope anyone that misses out due to the geographic limitations of this challenge might choose to participate in one of those.

John

Press Release: Freescale design challenge looks for the next 8-bit ‘killer app’

Alban — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:22:04 GMT

Freescale design challenge looks for the next 8-bit ‘killer app’

North American developers to vie for $10,000 grand prize and chance to demonstrate the winning application at the 2007 Freescale Technology Forum in Orlando

AUSTIN, Texas – Jan. 15, 2007 – Freescale Semiconductor is offering embedded engineers and engineering students in the United States, Canada and Mexico the opportunity to free their imaginations and turn great design ideas into 8-bit innovations.

The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge, which rewards the most inventive designs with cash prizes and high-profile recognition, includes free technical training and a discounted price for the USBSYPDER08 development tool supporting Freescale's MC9S08QG, MC9S08QD and MC9RS08KA families of 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs).

Registration for the design challenge opens Jan. 15 and closes April 6, 2007. For additional information about entry requirements, official rules, the design selection process and winner notifications, please visit www.freescale.com/blackwidow.

Contestants in this challenge will experience how easy it is to design embedded applications based on Freescale's highly integrated 8-bit MCUs, which are supported by a plethora of development tools and design resources, including CodeWarrior™ Development Studio Special Edition for Freescale's HC(S)08/RS08 MCUs.

”We're encouraging design challenge contestants to push their creativity to the limit and create killer applications based on our widely used 8-bit MCU architecture,” said Mike McCourt, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Microcontroller Division. “Engineers will learn just how versatile our low-end MCUs can be for embedded applications, while gaining hands-on experience with our 8-bit MCUs and the wide array of software and hardware tools we offer to simplify the development process.”

Design challenge details*
Contestants can register for the design challenge at www.freescale.com/blackwidow. Once registered, they will follow three steps and gain access to a wealth of design support. In step one, contestants will test their knowledge in a short question-and-answer session. In step two, they will participate in a short coding demonstration using Freescale's virtual lab on the DEMO9S08QG8 board. In addition, they will have the opportunity to purchase Freescale's USBSYPDER08 development tool at a 50-percent discount. In step three, contestants will submit their application concepts.

All entries must be submitted online by April 6. Entries may be submitted by individuals or groups. Each submission will be reviewed by a panel of Freescale judges for creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, total Freescale product quantity, usefulness and overall application rating.

Freescale plans to announce the top 10 finalists on April 13. Each finalist will receive a $1,000 (USD) award. The finalists will be invited to build prototypes of their designs and submit them to Freescale for final judging. The grand prize winner will receive $10,000 and free admission to the Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) in Orlando, Florida, June 25-28, 2007. The second and third prize winners will receive $5,000 and $2,000 respectively.

About the QD4 microcontroller family
The MC9S08QD4 (QD4) device provides the flexibility and functionality to help developers design a wider array of embedded applications. The high level of integration and 5V support within a compact, 8-pin package make the QD4 ideal for cost-sensitive applications that require higher voltages. The QD4 integrates a four-channel, 10-bit analog-to-digital controller (ADC) designed for high resolution and fast conversion with an automatic compare function. The ADC enables the MCU to interface easily with analog inputs from sensors and other devices by converting the analog signal to a digital value.

About the QG8 microcontroller family
To deliver increased on-chip integration, the MC9S08QG8 MCU adds an enhanced 8-channel, 10-bit ADC designed for better resolution, speed of conversion and low-power operation. The onboard analog integration allows customers to easily interface to analog inputs with minimal external glue logic. An integrated serial communications interface (SCI), serial peripheral interface (SPI) module and inter-integrated circuit (IIC) bus modules increase design flexibility by providing more options for connecting external components.

About the KA microcontroller family
The MC9RS08KA is the first product to be built on the RS08 core, a simplified version of Freescale's high-performance, low-power HCS08 architecture. The ultra-low-end MC9RS08KA family is designed for embedded applications with extreme space and price constraints, such as traditional electromechanical designs and portable applications ranging from motor control to disposable health care products. The MC9RS08KA family offers a robust support environment and a pin-compatible migration path to the higher-performance MC9S08QG and MC9S08QD when designers need to add new functionality.

About the USBSPYDER08
The USBSPYDER08 is a low-cost development tool optimized for Freescale's S08 microcontrollers, including the MC9S08QG, MC9S08QD and MC9RS08KA families. The USBSPYDER08 is designed to enable engineers to develop, evaluate and test code quickly and easily before they build their applications.

About the Freescale Technology Forum
The Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) has become the developer event of the year for the embedded semiconductor industry. The Forum, which debuted in 2005, has been enthusiastically received by the global developer community, drawing more than 12,000 attendees at FTF events worldwide since its inception. For more information about FTF events, please go to www.freescale.com/ftf.

About Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with sales of $6.2 billion (USD) for the most recently reported four quarters. www.freescale.com

Message Edited by Alban on 2007-01-16 10:25 AM

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

alejmrm — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:11:43 GMT

Hey I just received an email from some lady, her name is Susan and has a yahoo email account as a source, she is asking for my size to send me a t-shirt in behalf of the Black Widow Design Challenge... but I am thinking that it might be a scam or spam.. Can somebody confirm that "Susan" is real? and if so, why are you allowing this kind of behavior? it *doesn't* build trust , no for me, If you want to give away thing that's really *OK*. =) but please use a freescale account or the company that you hire to send these t-shirts needs to identify properly...

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

Alban — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:15:53 GMT

Hello Arod,

May you please forward this email including its header to Forums@freescale.com so I escalate ?

Cheers,

Alban.

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

alejmrm — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:19:06 GMT

Done... you will receive [it] from my gmail account...

Just one more thing:

If this is spam, How the &^%* did this *lady* get my email and acknowledge about my participation in this contest? I suspecting that you *got hacked* =(

Message Edited by alejmrm on 2007-02-1509:26 AM

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

Alban — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:47:35 GMT

Hello,

We don't get hacked.

The company didn't mention its name because you would not know it anyway as they do T-Shirts.

I read the email and it does mention that you participated to the Black Widow Challenge. (you can check easily).

It also indicates a link to the site you participated to.

Nevertheless I forwarded your dissatifaction to the both Susan and the Freescale representative who organized this.

This is a legit email you need to reply to, if you need your Free T-Shirt.

Regards,

Alban.

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

bongosai — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:22:43 GMT

Dear alejmrm,

If you received an email during te week of February 12 from "Susan", with the Subject line "Black Widow Design Challenge" requesting your t-shirt size, this is from a company that Freescale contracted.

We hope to hear from you!

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

billw — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 12:59:43 GMT

Heh. I was a little alarmed by the mysterious message from Susan
as well, and glad to see that the issue had already been addressed
here. I couldn't figure out what "they" would gain by me mailing
them my T-shirt size, since apparently they already had my email
address. And yesterday I received a nice Free-scale T-shirt with
the Black Widow contest logo on the back!

Thanks!

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

billw — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 13:35:12 GMT

If I manage to screw up the morse code project in my
personal disk area (H, can I get back to the start
by copying over the similarly named directories from C: ?

Is the "processor expert" feature needed to build the
contest project? I see it including the MCUinit.c
supposedly set up by processor expert, but on the other
hand processor expert doesn't like running in the odd-sized
screen provided by the virtual lab environment and does't
seem to have a cpu target specified, and most of what I'd
consider MCU init that is done explicitly in main.c anyway...

A project make of the contest app generates several warnings,
at least one of which is pretty mysterious looking. There's
a suspect loop apprently trying to wait for "conti != 0", but
nothing changes conti. (Fortunately (?) the wait loop is broken
and exits immediately anyway.)

(and the link to the forums from the black widow contest page
seems to be stale and/or broken.)

Is it intentional that the contest "part 2" code is not downloadable
for offline study? If so, it's not very well protected from other ways
of moving it off of the virtual lab...

(are these questions appropriat in this thread, or should they
become separate threads?)

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

idnominal — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 01:35:46 GMT

Hi, I got my Step 2 check mark, but no email yet with the discount code. Is the email sent right away, or is there a delay? Thanks!

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

billw — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:07:58 GMT

I think mine arrived pretty promptly (within a couple hours, anyway.)
It ends up arriving from "vl-support@techonline.com" rather than a
freescale address, so maybe it ended up in your spam bucket...

You can run the sim again and it'll send you another email with the
same code (at least it did for me.)

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

idnominal — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:35:26 GMT

Thank you Bill! I did as you suggested and was able to pull the email from my filter system (as you predicted). The email came within minutes. This contest very much appears to be a "selfservice" operation.

But, it gets worse:

Without revealing any secret codes, here's what the email says you can use your $15 discount for:

"This code may be used once to purchase the USBSYDER08, DEMO9S08QG8E, DEMO9S08QD4, or the DEMO9RS08KA2 at a $15 discount. To redeem this offer please phone Digi-Key ... ".

But, after several phone calls (by a very kind and patient Digi-key person) Freescale told Digi-key the offer applies to only three items, the USBSYD..., the QG8 board, and the KA2 board. And, the QG8 board is back ordered till early March. Digi-key does not carry the QD4 board.

Also, and while I have the highest regards for Digi-key and buy much there, they charge a bit more than other distributers. For example, the QG8 board that is in stock at Freescale sells for $50. Digi-key sells the exact same board for $56.53, which I guess means the $15 discount is really about an $8.47 discount! (However, I should note that the Digi-key folks are really helpful and friendly and you can count on a timely delivered well packed package every time.) Oh, did I forget to mention that the secret (unrevealed) discount code does not work in the discount box at Freescale checkout?

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

billw — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 11:08:53 GMT

Yeah, I noticed that TI's $20 EZ430 USB thing is $25.62 at Digikey as well. I'm not impressed (by digikey). Other distributers (ie Mouser) manage to sell the eval systems at the MSRP.

Interesting that the discount doesn't apply to the Freescale "buy direct" option.

Ah well, this is a pretty new format for a contest, so I guess there are some bugs to iron out. I'm rather enjoying the multiple steps; it's more motivating to actually learn something about the chips than most contests (I suspect that's the point.)

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

idnominal — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 12:56:57 GMT

I totally agree that the new approach is far more interesting than past challenges that simply involved pasting or typing in canned code. On the other hand, I wish there were some code tutorials that show how to use the needed modules.

Also, the lack of response to emails and posts is troubling. It makes you wonder if any better support is available outside of the contest environment?

That is is the second time today someone mentioned the TI 430 to me, hmmm

Re: The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

billw — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:15:23 GMT

Like many CPUs with a long history, finding documentation can be an interesting
excercise in figuring out what is and isn't applicable to the latest variation.
I found the "HCS08 Peripheral Module Quick Reference" pretty useful:

http://www.freescale.com/files/microcontrollers/doc/user_guide/HCS08QRUG.pdf

I had interesting problems with the virtual lab that ended up being ... educational.

The TI430 is more or less "just another micro", but I think they had one of the first
useful USB stick-like development/evaluation tools, so they came to mind WRT digikey
pricing issues...