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[on:]

Hi!

As the Due is realeased many of my problems have been solved. I could use one processor where I used several before.

Testing with the Arduino DUE Board is fine, but where can I get the CPU to place them in my gadgets?

I was using several Unos (Atmega328) before, now I want to swap to the 32bit platform.

I found a 32-bit CORTEX-M3 Chip at my local dealer (Reichelt) which is a STM32 from ST-Electronics. Can I use them with the Arduino Software?

regards

Patrick

[Reply #1 on:]

The chip in the DUE is the Atmel ATSAM3X8E.  I expect they use the LQFP (-AU) package, not the BGA (-CU).
Currently in stock at Newark/element14.

[Reply #2 on:]

The usual electronics distributors: Mouser, Digikey, Newark (Farnell) all have them in their online catalogs, but they are mostly "out of stock."  Newark claims to have 24:  http://www.newark.com/atmel/atsam3x8ea-au/qfp144-green-ind-temp-mrla/dp/92T0815
I don't know about international distributors...
It looks like the chip is not quite in "full production" yet, which is a bit scary given Atmel's track record.

[Reply #3 on:]

Thanks! I also found a programming board which is capable of QFP144 Chips
http://www.ebay.de/itm/260973332140?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_4072wt_1144

All you need (as far as I have seen) is an UART to USB Converter.

I hope this stuff will get cheaper by time as the DUE becomes more popular.

[Reply #4 on:]

a programming board which is capable of QFP144 Chips

Since that appears to be designed for the STM32F chips, it may not work with the Atmel chips.

The particular ARM chip used on Due has lots of features (Ethernet, USB Host/Device, CAN controller, 512k flash, multi-channel DMA) and isn't likely to ever compete with the very low cost ARM chips being sold by other vendors.  You can get some of the smaller SAM3x chips for less, and some of the lesser SAM3 chips are very cheap, and they'd be at least THEORETICALLY compatible with the new Arduino IDE.

Also, it looks the the prices drop pretty quickly in larger quantities (~30% at 25 for one I looked at...)