AMDA D V A N C E I N F O R M A T I O N
9
Am29240 Microcontroller Series
Serializer/Deserializer
The serializer/deserializer (video interface) on the
Am29240 and Am29245 microcontrollers permits direct
connection to a number of laser-marking engines, video
displays, or raster input devices such as scanners.
Interrupt Controller
The interrupt controller generates and reports the status
of interrupts caused by on-chip peripherals.
Wide Range of Price/Performance Points
To reduce design costs and time-to-market, the product
designer can use the Am29200 microcontroller family
and one basic system design as the foundation for an
entire product line. From this design, numerous imple-
mentations of the product at various levels of price and
performance may be derived with minimum time, effort,
and cost.
The Am29240 RISC microcontroller series supports this
capability through various combinations of on-chip
caches, programmable memory widths, programmable
wait states, burst-mode and page-mode access sup-
port, bus compatibility , and 29K family software compat-
ibility . A system can be upgraded using various memory
architectures without hardware and software redesign.
Within the Am29240 microcontroller series, the external
interfaces and the processor operate at frequencies in
the range of 16 to 25 MHz. Using the Scalable Clocking
feature on the Am29240 and Am29243 microcon-
trollers, the internal processor core can operate either at
the interface frequency or twice this frequency. For ex-
ample, the processor can operate at 25 MHz while the
interface operates at 12.5 MHz.
The ROM controller accommodates memories that are
either 8, 16, or 32 bits wide, and the DRAM controller ac-
commodates dynamic memories that are either 16 or 32
bits wide. This unique feature provides a flexible inter-
face to low-cost memory, as well as a convenient, flex-
ible upgrade path. For example, a system can start with
a 16-bit memory design and can subsequently improve
performance by migrating to a 32-bit memory design.
One particular advantage is the ability to add memory in
half-megabyte increments. This provides significant
cost savings for applications that do not require larger
memory upgrades.
The Am29200, Am29202, Am29205, Am29240,
Am29245, and Am29243 microcontrollers allow users
to address an extremely wide range of cost performance
points, with higher performance and lower cost than ex-
isting designs based on CISC microprocessors.
Glueless System Interfaces
The Am29240 microcontroller series also minimizes
system cost by providing a glueless attachment to exter-
nal ROMs, DRAMs, and other peripheral components.
Processor outputs have edge-rate control that allows
them to drive a wide range of load capacitances with low
noise and ringing. This eliminates the cost of external
logic and buffering.
Bus and Software Compatibility
Compatibility within a processor family is critical for
achieving a rational, easy upgrade path. Processors in
the Am29240 microcontroller series are all members of
a bus-compatible family of RISC microcontrollers. All
members of this family—the Am29205, Am29202,
Am29200, Am29240, Am29245, and Am29243 micro-
controllers—allow improvements in price, performance,
and system capabilities without requiring that users re-
design their system hardware or software. Bus compati-
bility ensures a convenient upgrade path for future
systems.
The Am29240 microcontroller series is available in a
196-pin plastic quad flat-pack (PQFP) package. The
Am29240 microcontroller series is signal-compatible
with the Am29200 and the Am29205 microcontrollers.
Moreover, the Am29240 microcontroller series is
binary compatible with existing RISC microcontrollers
and other members of the 29K family (the Am29000,
Am29005, Am29030, Am29035, Am29040, and
Am29050 microprocessors, as well as the Am29200,
Am29202, and Am29205 microcontrollers). The
Am29240 microcontroller series provides a migration
path to low-cost, high-performance, highly integrated
systems from other 29K family members, without re-
quiring expensive rewrites of application software.
Complete Development and
Support Environment
A complete development and support environment is vi-
tal for reducing a product’s time-to-market. Advanced
Micro Devices has created a standard development en-
vironment for the 29K family of processors. In addition,
the Fusion29K third-party support organization provides
the most comprehensive customer/partner program in
the embedded processor market.
Advanced Micro Devices offers a complete set of hard-
ware and software tools for design, integration, debug-
ging, and benchmarking. These tools, which are
available now for the 29K family, include the following:
Software development kit that includes the
High C 29K optimizing C compiler with assem-
bler, linker , ANSI library functions, 29K family archi-
tectural simulator, and MiniMON29K debug
monitor
XRAY29K source-level debugger
A complete family of demonstration and develop-
ment boards