TMS320F28379S: and the tms320f28379d

Don,

You are correct, if you have never used the 2nd core/CLA then things should work as is. 

I would assume as such you've never taken the 2nd core out of reset in your code(since the 1st core gates the 2nd); my reasoning for mentioning this though, is that if you have used some of our C2000Ware examples as starting points for your code those types of things may be in there.  I think you could leave those in, as they wouldn't do anything, but wanted to bring it up for cleanliness of code.

An addition option to consider is that an equivalent device single core variant will have 2x the FLASH memory available for the single core vs the dual core variant, since that same flash was split between the 2 cores.  

In the case of the F28379S, it means that you will have the full 1MB of flash available for the core to use, where on the F28379D you were using for prototyping you only had 512kB. 

My point being is that you may be able to use a F28376S, which has 512kB, and will cost less than the 379S.  I believe the only other difference is the lack of the CLB logic compared to the F28379 if that is used by your system.

Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Best,

Matthew