Development Tools from Vendors - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: idolstar
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 13, 2013, 05:08:43 pm
content: Let me preface this by saying I don't have much experience in embedded systems or microcontroller programming, but I do have experience programming (mostly numerical and scientific software). I started on a project using a new Broadcom wifi board with an arm chip that they call the WICED (and pronounce wicked). The person I am collaborating with on this project, who is much more experienced with hardware than I am, procured two development boards from Broadcom so we could start working. All I had to do was download their free development environment.It took weeks to try to convince them that we were working on a legitimate project. They didn't like my gmail account, they didn't like that I had a relatively high pitched voice on the phone (I am 40, but I sound pretty young). Finally after we started using a different domain for our email addresses and assured them we were actually working on a real project they relented and let us download the software to program the dev boards we had purchased.Is this typical behavior? It left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. My collaborator has shrugged it off, saying that some companies are just like that with new small customers, but that was not my experience working with Intel or Apple when I was in academia, nor with Microchip more recently.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2013, 08:19:49 pm
content: Quote from: idolstar on November 13, 2013, 05:08:43 pmFor Broadcom? Yes. As your partner said, some companies are like that. All IC manufacturers are looking for the million/year buyers only, but some let it feel you more than others that you are of no interest to them or that you aren't welcome. And Broadcom is very secretive about their oh-so-valuable intellectual property rights (even if they just took some open source stuff ...). Don't touch, don't look, don't change, use it exactly as the gods of Broadcom decided it must be used - and pay for the privilege.If Broadcom annoys you enough, there are other companies selling WiFi ICs, boards or modules - for that Internet of Things thingy ...

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2013, 08:54:57 pm
content: There are companies which are interested only in the million per year range, but there are the others, who care about the thousands per year customers. The differentiator factor is the application. If the companies main product is automotive or consumer, they will not give a piss about you. Industrial, medical etc.. more likely will care.You can also consider to go through a vendor. I have great experience from some vendors, they can be really helpful for information gathering, sometimes even design verification, or free devboards.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2013, 09:54:54 pm
content: I have yet to hear anything nice said about Broadcom, especially in the collaborative arena

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2013, 11:07:33 pm
content: I agree. If you are not buying 7 digit quantities then you should avoid Broadcom like the plague.

author: senso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2013, 11:52:34 pm
content: Maybe TI CC3000 is what you need.

author: idolstar
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 05:10:18 pm
content: Thank you for confirming this. I don't expect vendors to be giving me access to an engineer to hold my hand for a sale that might be measured only in the thousands of units, but at least other vendors let me ask questions in a forum without vetting me first. I'll take a look at the TI CC3000.