NPC LPCXpresso Giveaway

NXP is giving away LPCXPresso boards to people who submit a video of themselves destroying an 8 or 16 bit micro. I'm not sure which board they're giving away or what the qualifications are for being eligible (the submission ominously requires a "Business" email address) but it's worth a try I suppose.

The Cortex M0 is positioned as an upgrade for existing 8 or 16 bit applications. Color me jaded, but the M0 specs are significantly more impressive than the typical 8/16 bit micro. The low-end LPC111x series tout the following features (datasheet):

• System:
  • ARM Cortex-M0 processor, running at frequencies of up to 50 MHz.
  • ARM Cortex-M0 built-in Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller (NVIC).
  • Serial Wire Debug.
  • System tick timer.
• Memory:
  • 32 kB (LPC1114), 24 kB (LPC1113), 16 kB (LPC1112), or 8 kB (LPC1111) on-chip flash programming memory.
  • 8 kB, 4 kB, or 2 kB SRAM
  • In-System Programming (ISP) and In-Application Programming (IAP) via on-chip bootloader software.
• Digital peripherals:
  • Up to 42 General Purpose I/O (GPIO) pins with configurable pull-up/pull-down resistors.
  • GPIO pins can be used as edge and level sensitive interrupt sources.
  • High-current output driver (20 mA) on one pin.
  • High-current sink drivers (20 mA) on two I2C-bus pins in Fast-mode Plus.
  • Four general purpose counter/timers with a total of four capture inputs and 13 match outputs.
  • Programmable WatchDog Timer (WDT).
• Analog peripherals:
  • 10-bit ADC with input multiplexing among 8 pins.
• Serial interfaces:
  • UART with fractional baud rate generation, internal FIFO, and RS-485 support.
  • Two SPI controllers with SSP features and with FIFO and multi-protocol capabilities (second SPI on LQFP48 and PLCC44 packages only).
  • I2C-bus interface supporting full I2C-bus specification and Fast-mode Plus with a data rate of 1 Mbit/s with multiple address recognition and monitor mode.
• Clock generation:
  • 12 MHz internal RC oscillator trimmed to 1 % accuracy that can optionally be used as a system clock.
  • Crystal oscillator with an operating range of 1 MHz to 25 MHz.
  • Programmable watchdog oscillator with a frequency range of 7.8 kHz to 1.8 MHz.
  • PLL allows CPU operation up to the maximum CPU rate without the need for a high-frequency crystal. May be run from the system oscillator or the internal RC oscillator.
  • Clock output function with divider that can reflect the system oscillator clock, IRC clock, CPU clock, and the Watchdog clock.
• Power control:
  • Integrated PMU (Power Management Unit) to minimize power consumption during Sleep, Deep-sleep, and Deep power-down modes.
  • Power profiles residing in boot ROM allowing to optimize performance and minimize power consumption for any given application through one simple function call. (LPC1100L series, on LPC111x/102/202/302 only.)
  • Three reduced power modes: Sleep, Deep-sleep, and Deep power-down.
  • Processor wake-up from Deep-sleep mode via a dedicated start logic using up to 13 of the functional pins.
  • Power-On Reset (POR).
  • Brownout detect with four separate thresholds for interrupt and forced reset.
• Unique device serial number for identification.
• Single power supply (1.8 V to 3.6 V).
• Available as 48-pin LQFP package, 33-pin HVQFN package, and 44-pin PLCC package.

That pretty much eclipses any 8/16 bit micro I've ever used. The LPC1111 is priced as low as $2.02 for one piece at Digi-Key. That's easily within the realm of hobbyist dollars! (The QFN packaging, though, could be a roadblock to many. You can get an LPC1100L in 48-LQFP for $2.80)

I think I'll head outside and take a few video clips of semiconductor destruction today.