Re: MISC

[znmeb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

->I realize that people have wanted more information on the details
->of what goes on behind the doors at iTV, but iTV has its own plans
->for releasing information.
->
->At one point I put information from a local press release about iTV
->and i21 on my web page, and was asked the web site developers and
->marketing staff here to let them control the information release.
->I was asked to remove the page I posted with the image map showing
->how iTV, Offete, Computer Cowboys, and Ultra Technology were related
->as well as the link to the information I had posted about i21.

This is as it should be!  I'm surprised you found time to post what you
did; I'm glad to see marketing has taken control.

->I have the latest iTV glossies in front of me.  On the back it states that
->the i21 chip is not available for general purpose use, nor are the
->operating system, applications, programming languages and tools
->developed by iTV. However, iTV is interested in qualified partners to
->jointly develop other applications for the technology.
->
->iTV is clearly thinking big, so if you own a chip foundry or your
->company makes millions of widgets you know who you are.

This is not the case with me; the i21 is therefore meaningless to me.

->I would of course like to say we will have F21 working 100% on this
->date...  But the nature of this develoment is prototype and test and
->the develpment cycle is slow.  I still want to submit F21c in Nov
->to try to get it back by the end of Jan 97.  I have not been able
->to spend a million dollars on F21 development this year, so i21 has
->taken the lead, but I don't think it will have a signifigant lead
->in production.  I will say that I want to submit a new F21 design
->as soon as we can this year.
->
->But there is only so much that can be done.  I would like to be a
->little more careful to do more simulated testing this time before
->we do the fabrication run.  It is sad to find a crippling bug in
->the design while the non-refundable fab run is in progress.
->
->Chuck advised me years ago not to promote F21 prematurely.  Each time
->I have written technical documentation it was invalidated by Chuck's
->design changes.  For this reason some of the documentation on F21
->is now out of date.  But about the time I cross-check all the spec
->and make it public Chuck will give me a new design spec with
->different register locations etc.  I have felt it was too early to
->provide technical information when it cannot be accurate.

I would advise you the same, except I would also advise you to forget
the F21 and focus 150% of your energies on the i21 and iTV.

->I am sorry if people are bitter about the slow progress of MISC
->chips in the last few years, but we do what we can.  At this point
->I am very pleased that it is still in progress.  After years of
->seeing Chuck, Dr. Ting and myself make sacrifices to keep pushing
->forward in the face of constant obstacles, criticism and ridicule
->I am tempted to ask people "what have you done to help get MISC
->flying?"
->
->At times I have found it very discouraging to see so little
->confidence that MISC technology has any potential market share.
->I pushed the concept of a very cheap internet terminal based on
->MISC to a lot of people for several years before I ran into
->Gary and Joe.  They have show that they were able to convince
->the right people that there is some potential to be able to
->finance serious development of the technology.
->
->I now think that iTV may develop that "killer app" that is needed
->to highlight the MISC technology and get some recognition.  It may
->in fact give a much needed boost to F21 before things are over.

Again, I would say that the i21 and iTV have to be your number one
priorities.  You don't need to apologize for being a practical
businessman!

Now, let me briefly describe what I want to do with the F21: I want to
build a personal audio/video synthesizer for computer music and
television generation.  I have a project in mind; I'll spare you the
details but it is a transcription/performance of a solo piano work by
a major 20th century composer.  Video would be nice but audio is
mandatory.  So my options are:

1. Wait for the F21.

2. Buy a DSP board (probably the Motorola 56K since a Forth is now
available for it.)  Great audio, no video.

3. Buy a MuP21.  Great video, no audio, so I have to build my own audio
interface.

In the end, I'll probably end up where I was a year ago when I first
conceived this project.  Eventually, I'll give up on the F21 and go for
option 2.  So, in a microcosm, you can see why MISC technology is so
hard to sell -- it's a chicken-and-egg thing.  You have your one shot at
the brass ring -- iTV -- and if it's *wildly* successful and has the
appropriate price-performance point (there's another one of those
marketing concepts :-), you *may* be able to think about other MISC
products like a $250 PC-controlled synthesizer.  In the mean time I will
have built my synthesizer from technology that is already in existence
and we'll run into each other at Forth conferences :-).