Availability of ATmega MCUs?

[Kerry]

Hello,

A few months ago I noticed that Mouser and Digikey were both short on ATmega168P and ATmega8 MCUs - I figured maybe it had something to do with these becoming obsolete and being replaced with the "A" versions... but months later and the story is the same.  Can anyone explain?  Should I be looking for different MCUs or should I be looking for different vendors?

I tried searching this and a couple other forums, but no one else seems to be complaining.  I'm beginning to think it's just me 

Thanks!

-Kerry

[Webbot]

They are just dying out because they are all obsolete. Obsolete = rare and that is also making them more expensive.

The ATMega328P is a plug in replacement (if you're building the $50 robot) but has 32K of program memory rather than 8k or 16k.

But: since the Mega8 and Mega168 are now hard to find there has been a 'rush' on the Mega328 and Atmel can't manufacturer them fast enough! Thats why most sites say the 328 is 'on order'.

So forget the 8 and 168 - go for the 328 - you may have to wait but it has lots more memory, more features, and will probably be cheaper than the 'antiques'.

[TrickyNekro]

Just got some atmega324P than getting the atmega32....

Much better and almost half priced.....

Does this say anything to you???

Webbot is a much "older" guy than me.... He sure does remember AT90S....

You new guys only get to know the latest... Still... He tells the same about me ;-)

[Webbot]

Just got some atmega324P than getting the atmega32....

Much better and almost half priced.....

Does this say anything to you???

Webbot is a much "older" guy than me.... He sure does remember AT90S....

You new guys only get to know the latest... Still... He tells the same about me ;-)

?

[TrickyNekro]

I started programming AVR with the AT90S2313....

I bet you used much older CPU when started programming... Isn't that right?

[Admin]

Atmel is always short on most of their microcontrollers.

I had to delay manufacture of both my Axon and Axon II for 2-3 months because the ATmega640 was out of stock . . .

But I hear PIC sometimes has the same problem . . .

[TrickyNekro]

Hopefully for them microcontrollers aren't pants to switch everyday....

And they are relatively new compared to microchip....

Not taking large steps each time is good sometimes... And electronics market was rather troublesome these years
and the years to  come it will be...

So, better to wait 2 months than not having a fully GCC compatible enviroment with some good microcontrollers ;-)



BTW, (and the thread is long before hijacked ;-P ) , there are many companies to the microcontroller market...

Still the battle is bewteen PIC and AVR... But there are many more!!! TI, NXP and so on...

What a good development enviroment does... For example, I only bough NXP after I knew that their IDE was nice and free...

Companies have to make their software free... It helps with popularity and support ;-)

[Asellith]

Admin just don't do what sparkfun did and start shopping around for shady cheap Chinese distributors and get a bunch of old useless chips that where found in a dumpster somewhere and relabeled. I bet those guys spent more time and money trying to figure out what the stupid chip was then what they paid for the entire reel.