LM4F abandoned

Well, I misinterpreted the sticky "Welcome" Posting. That means that parts are exactly the same, but only have another naming nomenclature. Never before experienced such stuff.

Rob,

TI's life cycle policy is all based around manufacturability and demand. If we can make it and there is demand for it, we will not obsolete the product. LM3S is a challenging case study because we are faced with some technology challenges stemming from IP that was inherited from an acquisition. That, however, does not change our commitment to continue manufacturing and supporting the customers that have worked with us to build quality products and plan to manufacture for 10 years.

LM4F was not discontinued. It was rebranded as a Tiva C series. TM4C123x = Lm4F23x. ENET products in the C series are just around the bend, and the Cortex MCU roadmap is being accelerated across the TI MCU group. Check my latest post on the LM3S NRND.

The investment level in Tiva microcontrollers is high, and life cycles will be long. Only time will regain the community's trust, but it's true. 

If you are having issues with Lm3S availability, I want to know what order(s) you have placed and your projected demand so I can try to do something about it.

Hope this helps. 

Hi Rob, I'm an apps engineer that covers Philips in Atlanta. The Tiva rollout can certainly be confusing.  The party line is that it combines the existing or upcoming M series ARM cores from the C2000, Former Stellaris (now Tiva) and MSP430 groups under the same umbrella.  They also used it as a chance to 'rationalize' the part numbering scheme in the Stellaris parts.  Confusing I admit.

One landmine I have noticed is the former Stellaris parts and the new TIVA parts aren't just the first letters changed but occasionally a whole new part number.  Let me know if you need a cross reference.

If you email me, I'll let you know delivery / release dates for Ethernet parts. They represent a really nice family of parts that offers tremendous integration potential. 

Blake Carpenter said:

If you email me, I'll let you know delivery / release dates for the Ethernet with Phy built in. I think the datasheet is still NDA as well.  It represents a really nice family of parts that offers tremendous integration potential. 

 Hi Blake, can this offer be extended to other are still waiting some obscure answer never minded from TI?

 ETH PHY part is TIVA? Waht about missing library support on new TIVA?

Blake Carpenter said:

Hi Rob, I'm an apps engineer that covers Philips in Atlanta. The Tiva rollout can certainly be confusing.  The party line is that it combines the existing or upcoming M series ARM cores from the C2000, Former Stellaris (now Tiva) and MSP430 groups under the same umbrella.  They also used it as a chance to 'rationalize' the part numbering scheme in the Stellaris parts.  Confusing I admit.

 Blake, I agree Stellaris naming was really confusing and was a nightmare to me select the part I was involved, now a TM3Cxxxx was what many of us where expecting from TI to mantain old investment done, is new part TIVA with eth phy compatible with old one? when can we expect some public announcement for that? When can we have an assurance for the future of our intellectual work?

Hi Roberto,

Are you speaking about ethernet library support or library support in general?

Blake

Hi Roberto,

I'll have to defer to the Tiva team for release timeframes.  Sorry...

Blake

Blake Carpenter said:

Hi Roberto,

Are you speaking about Ethernet library support or library support in general?

 Hi Blake, for who used Stellaris a support is still needed to preserve old investment.

 On new Library I see it is completely rewrite, so I hope new functionality appear in an ordered multiplatform policy, I was asking about EPI and Ethernet is missing now.

 I feel now this time is premature for the big pressure tech people on TI are suffering after this worst move.

 Thank a lot for precious between the lines information.

Blake Carpenter said:

Hi Rob, I'm apps engineer...cover Philips in Atlanta - and Tiva rollout can certainly be confusing...

Can it be much longer before post lands (NXP forum), "Hi - I'm apps engineer...cover TI in Austin...and LPC rollout can certainly be confusing..."

Is there yet any part in the LM4 series which includes Ethernet PHY as replacement for LM3S6965? 

Jill,

  Look for the new TM4C129x parts announced today. They include parts with integrated EMAC and PHY as well as other new features such as an LCD controller, more RAM and large flash. The new Ethernet MAC is far superior to the one in the LM3S parts, in my opinion, and offers a lot more functionality. We still include ports for the lwIP and uIP TCP/IP stacks but you will find that the old Ethernet API has been completely replaced for the TM4C129 parts to take advantage of the DMA and buffer descriptor model used to transfer data to and from the new MAC.

Yes, check out the TM4C129x at www.ti.com/tiva-c

I see we have all been watching this thread.  You guys beat me too it...

Hm, the parametric table on http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontroller/tiva_arm_cortex/c_series/products.page doesn't suggest the presence of a PHY within the chip.

Alas, there is still no pin compatible successor of LM3S9B90 (ethernet & battery backup). What about availability terms for the upcoming years of this chip?

Hi,

Did you noticed the presence of TM4C129xx devices?

http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontroller/tiva_arm_cortex/c_series/tm4c129x_series/products.page

Petrei

Rob,

  If you look closely at the parametric search table, you'll see that there are 2 columns, one labeled "10/100 ENET MAC" and, immediately to its left, another labeled "10/100 ENET MAC + PHY".

  As you note, there are no pin compatible successors to the LM3S parts. TM4C129 is the follow on for the LM3S9B9x series but the pinout had to change for hardware reasons. I'm a software guy but I seem to remember that making a pin-compatible version would have caused problems due to the speeds that the new parts operate at. Changing to a new pinout would position us better moving forward and prevent the need for another major pinout change later.

Dave Wilson said:

Changing to a new pinout would position us better moving forward and prevent the need for another major pinout change later.

 Hi Dave, IMHO the original title of this thread need change name, not abandoned but changed name to TM... otherwise after the worst time of NRND failure of Stellaris also Tiva may occasionally get a worst light.