A little Rant

[Anonymous]

        I know that Cypress has great engineers and people of vision. I also know that most have not gone through what I have, when trying to get with the program.   
   
I bought a psoc when they first came out and wanted to see this great new technology. I bought a development kit and received a board, which did, indeed, show me the possibilities of the psoc. To explore this further I had to buy a new compiler since psoc didn't use any of the three professional c compilers I had for embedded work. A little further along I wanted to utilize an ice tool to explore more about the psoc and was pretty pissed when I found the only way to get ice was to buy another compiler. Bundling, it seemed, was the order of the day. $100 doesn't seem like much but I wasn't happy. So I bit the bullet and got the ICE Cube. Now you're going to jtag with no mention of an ICE tool for the 3 or 5? I understand that you have a cable that transforms a miniprog3 into a programmer for the 3 and 5. I bought a miniprog 3 in one of my yellow brick road journeys to learn the psoc, I believe it was when you came out with designer. I can't buy the cable though. Only if I buy another miniprog3 in the DVK. Come on guys. You owe a loyalty to your old customers. Don't leave us with compiler codes which no longer work or miniprog3's which don't work with the new chips!   
   
I know some spoiled rich kid or corporate troll will take me to task for being so miserly, but it really is a matter of principle.   

[markgsaunders]

        I understand your frustration but we are actually trying to make this better!   
   
The MiniProg you bought when PSoC Designer came out is a MiniProg 1. With the introduction of PSoC 3 and 5, and the addition of the JTAG interface, we had to develop a new programmer tool. This is the brand-new MiniProg3 and it can program all PSoC parts (so its functionality is a superset of MiniProg1).   
   
The MiniProg3 is included, for convenience, in the PSoC Developers Kit (CY8CKIT-001) but you can also buy it separately in the PSoC® MiniProg3 Program and Debug Kit (CY8CKIT-002). It is here:    http://www.cypress.com/?rID=38154.    
   
We realize that buying another programming box is a pain BUT, because it uses the JTAG interface, you also get debugging through the same MiniProg. You do not need to get the ICE Cube for PSoC 3 or PSoC 5 (you still need it for PSOC 1 though).   
   
-- Mark.   

[Anonymous]

        Great just another $90. So now to move to the future, 3 and 5, I buy a new toolset and am "stuck" with about $500 worth of equipment that is no longer used such as the ice cube, two compilers and miniprogs out the wazoo.   
   
I'm still in, since this is the only game in town, but don't do it again. 🙂   

[markgsaunders]

        We do hope not to do this for a while! When you factor in all the related costs, we do not make money on MiniProg3 sales!   
   
There are a lot of new goodies on this platform that could simply not be supported by an ICE-based debugger and an M8 CPU. Sorry for the new costs but remember that the new compiler is free (Keil on PSoC 3 and GNU on PSoC 5) and that you get a MiniProg3 with the Developer's Kit.   
   
-- mgs