PIC configurable logic cell (CLC)

Eugeneo · Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 155 Location: Calgary, AB

I recently completed a project on the Pic 10F322. It's great to use on projects if you have a dilemma between pure hardware or micro.

Anyways, I wanted to play with the CLC hardware. It's pretty neat. Is this the beginning for PicFPGA? Has anybody had any interesting builds or uses with this feature?

PCM programmer · Joined: 06 Sep 2003 Posts: 21708

Only one previous post on using CLC's:
http://www.ccsinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50801

asmboy · Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 2128 Location: albany ny

The CLC has impressed me as being a module requested by a BIG customer of MicroChip, and i suspect it's features were even dictated by said customer, and NOT prospectively thrown out to us - by the M-Chip designers.

If it is a poor man's FPGA -i don't see how to make use of it, especially on a 10Fxx part ! Nearly any hard-logic circuitry i might need would use too many precious pins of the PIC .

guy · Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 297

another guess is that Microchip needs to constantly produce new features for marketing purposes, hence the CLC module. Usually a few lines of code would do the work better, esp. if you need some filtering, timers, etc. Never used it either.

temtronic · Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 6:25 am

Hmm.. reminds me of using a 16C84 to replace a PLA 25 years ago. Back then one-shot PLA were pricey and 'fun' to program. Burn once, try again...sigh. It only took 10 minutes to UV erase the PIC and try again...
Microchip even had an application on how to use the PIC as a PLA replacement.
While this PIC looks 'nice', I prefer a 'bigger' PIC as the client ALWAYS needs another I/O pin, a wee bit more code, etc.

Jay

Ttelmah · Joined: 11 Mar 2010 Posts: 19520

Like most things on the PIC, I'd expect similar features to spread with time.

If you think about it, some of the larger PIC's with selectable peripherals are implementing quite sophisticated logic switching. Then things like the ECCP in particular has controllable inversion and routing. If you had the selection logic, combined with half a dozen more generic CLC type modules, it'd become possible to implement internal logic to feed peripherals or control the outputs.

It'd really be nice, but the current CLC, it really is attached to a PIC that rather spoils the point.