It’s borders with long(er) histories

Anyone honestly curious and concerned about what is happening “down south” these days may wish to purchase a recent book put out by the Ateneo de Manila University Press. Arli Nimmo’s “A Very Far Place: Tales of Tawi-Tawi” is about his long sojourn as a graduate student in this wonderfully distinct place of hundreds of islands and islets. He writes about communities whose notions of boundary are antipodal to how the rest of the country understands the term.

Where Manila and Kuala Lumpur classify residents of Tawi-Tawi and neighboring Sabah as “Filipinos” and “Malaysians,” respectively, the inhabitants see these official tags as skin-deep and their utility limited (to be brought up only during elections and when they pass official immigration posts). Instead of these “modern” categories, they are comfortable with how they really call themselves—Tausug, Sama Dilaut, Sama Delaya, Kazadan, etc. These are identities that persist and to which a new layer—citizenship—would be added.

Hence, where Manila and Kuala Lumpur see Tawi-Tawi as “a far distant place,” the communities in these places (if we add Borneo) regard their location as one of many nodal points of a maritime trading network that predates as well as transcends the constricting official national territories. Theirs are places that are regional in outlook, a fact often glossed over.

Older than nation state

The authority that was part of a network of city ports lording over this domain naturally mirrored this older history and this wider world. The Sulu Sultanate is historically older than the Philippine nation-state, the Sarawak of the White Rajahs and the Sabah of the Malaysian Federation.

The sultanate outlasted the Spanish colonialists and sought a treaty with the British commercial syndicate that was running North Borneo (a corporation) as a way of reinforcing its position. But in so doing, the Sulu Sultanate weakened itself, such that by the time the Americans came Jamalul Kiram had signed a treaty with British North Borneo, ceding parts of his domain in exchange for an annual subsidy of $5,000. The Americans added to the predicament with yet another treaty signed by a middle-ranking officer (no worth to Manila or the US War Department) and the Sultan of Sulu.

All this may be a series of setbacks, but the series of retreats that considerably reduced the sultanate’s domain was understood not in national terms. The sultan never saw himself as Filipino. He lived in Sulu, but his other residence—during the first decade of American rule—was in Singapore, one of the many trading ports where he used to conduct business. So, it is a mistake for current-day commentators to insist that this Sabah claim was a rightful claim of the Sulu Sultanate as a Filipino entity.

No other option

It never was. Well, until the sultan’s heir and relatives realized that their Southeast Asian world had completely disappeared as the various colonial powers consolidated their territorial stakes in the region. With Singapore closed, Borneo under British mercantile regulation and the Americans and their Filipino allies adamant in keeping Muslim Mindanao a formal part of the Philippine geo-body, there was no other option but to become Filipino.

In short, the Sulu Sultanate of today is not the same as it was over 100 years ago. Then, it was a Southeast Asian entity; today, it is a Filipino caricature of its old self, a museum piece that national historians and ideologues would show to the public as yet another evidence of the unstoppable march of national (and modern) unity.

Speaking in Filipino

And what ironically exemplifies this poignant transmutation is the current sultan himself: living in Taguig in Metro Manila and speaking to the public not in Tausug or English (the language taught to his elders by the Americanos), but in the national language—Filipino!

But even mutations can retain the mental footprints of their old selves. When Jamalul Kiram III ordered his brother to arm 100 of their men and seize the small town of Lahad Datu in Sabah, he supposedly acted on a “historic claim,” Sabah being owned by the sultanate. But why did Kiram and followers opt to “capture” a small inconsequential town two hours and 45 minutes by car from Sandakan? Why not attack it instead (or Semporna)?

No Bud Dajo

There is no record of Lahad Datu as having the same stature as Jolo, and even today its claim to (small) fame is being the “base” of the Borneo Child Aid Society and a palm oil industrial cluster. And it is definitely no Bud Dajo, that village where hundreds of defiant Tausug—men, women and children—died fighting the Americans (a feat that is now part of the lore of struggle of the Bangsamoro).

Moreover, mustering 100 people in the Mindanao war zone is not really unusual. The clan wars (rido) that Asia Foundation has amazingly tracked could easily involve family armies that can run in the hundreds. What is sadly noticeable about the Lahad Datu occupation is how much the Sulu Sultanate has really diminished in name: the Kirams could only muster a force of 100! Even Umbra Kato, a renegade commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has more men under his command.

But still, why do it? And how could a doddering authority still convince 100 men to bring out their motley arms and dare challenge a much superior force?

Weak state presence

Here, we find a bizarre melding of an antiquated authority that is now firmly Filipino (the sultanate) with two other realities in the Sulu zone. On the one hand, there is the consistent failure of the Philippine nation-state to assert its authority and gain the consent of its supposed subjects on this distant frontier. On the other, as a result of weak state presence, an everyday life that was still rooted in a regional maritime frame (this despite the selling out or compromises of their traditional elites) continued to persist.

Nimmo described this pathetic government presence this way: “The Philippine Air Force maintained a skeletal outpost on Sanga-Sanga Island where commercial flights of Philippine Airlines were scheduled to arrive twice weekly but often did not. The Air Force base had a jeep as did the small Philippine Navy base on Tawi-Tawi island….”

Mindanao war

No wonder then that when I chanced upon two Malaysian air force officers taking graduate studies in the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California, almost a decade ago, they reminisced—quite fondly—about how it was easy for them to transport guns from Sabah to the camps of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) at the height of the Mindanao war in the 1970s.

Things hardly changed a few years after that when, in a visit to Tawi-Tawi, the only visible government presence I saw was a poorly refurbished Philippine Navy ship that probably first saw action in the Korean War.

(Alongside Nimmo, a great read—because I think it will not be surpassed for at least a decade—is the writer Criselda Yabes’ “Peace Warriors: On the Trail with Filipino Soldiers,” a superb compilation of field notes of her visit to AFP camps in Muslim Mindanao.)

Mistrusted

In many villages of Muslim Mindanao, the Philippine state is hardly acknowledged and in the war zones highly mistrusted; people’s first encounter with government was a soldier with a weapon, shouting at them in a strange language (Tagalog, oftentimes Ilocano) and ready to fire at their homes. There were no civilian civil servants at all and if ever there were public school teachers brave enough to try to educate the children, they were hampered by the lack of resources because local politicians had run away with the payroll.

The absence of the state naturally means the refusal of opportunistic business enterprises to expand into these southern borders, leaving the premodern regional maritime trade as the only viable source of livelihood. The modern nation-state has naturally branded this as illicit and criminal, but because its enforcing mechanisms are pathetically laughable, communities continue with it, perhaps a little bit mindful that the occasional “raids” may eat into their revenue.

Cousins, families

Territorially, this means that national boundaries are of no concern, and cousins, families and business partners from both the Borneo and the Sulu side saw no need to worry about national identification cards.

It also means that even as the majority prefers to stick to commerce and trade, there will still be those who regard business as the product of tradition. The people who joined the petite uprising are most likely those who consider their lives inextricably linked to an “old tradition,” which sees their family histories as inextricably linked to an authority that was neither Malaysian nor Filipino. It is a primordial sentiment that has not been erased because the absence of the national state (particularly the critical educational apparatuses that could change young minds) made sure that it would be preserved.

But the speed with which this rebellion—so overrated in Manila and Kuala Lumpur—was stamped out also suggests the fragility of this old mentality. A few shots, some killed and wounded, and everyone appear to head home.

Or perhaps there is also another complementary explanation. The shootings may have surprised them, but the Sabah police most likely knew that the tension was easy to defuse. After all, those armed men at the other side of the checkpoints, were probably their relatives, business associates, even neighbors. Companies that they and their families have known and kept long before there was this imagined border that separated Borneo from Tawi-Tawi and the larger Sulu archipelago.

This brings us to a final point to consider. If this small town occupation was of historic significance, why are the two important Muslim Mindanao players keeping a distance from the Kirams and their men? Neither the fractious MNLF nor the far-stronger MILF has sent any of their battle-scarred companies to join the Kirams. And we have not heard any statements of solidarity from the spokespersons of these “movements.”

Pragmatic Moro politics

The silence, I suspect, has something to do with pragmatic politics. Like the old sultan, these two organizations have made their peace with Manila and have accepted the offer of autonomy. The MNLF and MILF are—despite misgivings—happy to be part of the Philippine geo-body.

But being movements borne out of more modern ideologies, these two organizations have very little to be in solidarity with the Sulu Sultanate. The MNLF’s secular ideology sees the sultanate as the very archaic, feudal power that had collaborated with Filipino colonialism to exploit, marginalize and repress the umma, while the MILF treats this “indigenized” political authority as pre-Islamic and hence, backward.

Besides, both would always be grateful for the Malaysian government’s support for their separatist struggle in the past. Why bite a hand that used to feed them? And why waste resources on something that had no prospects of even making a dent on Malaysian stability?

The skirmish is over and the border zone will be, as it were, back in business once again. And Manila and Kuala Lumpur may find it just prudent to let things be, to let the locals deal with the quirks of an existence, which hardly matter to the two capitals.

(Patricio N. Abinales is professor of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii-Manoa. His latest book is “Orthodoxy and History in the Muslim Mindanao Narrative” [Ateneo: 2010]. He is working on a manuscript on the Growth with Equity in Mindanao [GEM] and the American economic presence in the war zones of Muslim Mindanao. Despite his current address, he remains an official resident of Ozamiz City, northern Mindanao.) - source

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Who own Sulu Sovereignty ?

In what appeared to be an impromptu interview, President Aquino last Thursday spoke of his apprehensions over the tense situation that has developed in the wake of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s decision to send his “royal army” to reclaim Sabah as part of the Sulu “homeland.” Asked about his position on the country’s dormant claim to sovereignty over Sabah, the President deftly avoided making any explicit statement on the issue, saying that his Cabinet was still compiling the data and studying the documents.

He admitted that he found the Sabah question confusing. “Everybody was signing a document in his native language. And you wonder how many of them understood what was written in the other copy. Now, I am not an expert. I have tasked the experts to study all of this and to find out precisely where we stand.”

In the course of this free-wheeling interview, the President posed a question that carried broad implications. I’m quoting from the interview as reported by the Inquirer. “If we agree that the Sultan of Sulu owns Sabah, does that also mean that they own Sulu? If we (the sultanate) own Sulu, can we (the sultanate) suddenly say we are separate from the Philippines?” The President’s question touches on the very core issues underpinning the claim to a Bangsamoro homeland.

Like the other royal families of Sulu, the Kiram heirs most likely still own huge tracts of land in Sulu. Much communal land was privately titled during the American period. Still, one can assume that a big portion of the land in these parts belongs to the ancestral domain of the people of Sulu and remains communal. I am not aware that any of the royal families has any pending private claim to the entire island. Ownership is not the main issue in Muslim Mindanao.

It is the question of sovereignty over Sulu (and by extension, the rest of Muslim Mindanao) that has preoccupied generations of the Moro people. This is what they have fought for over the centuries. All around them, they have seen how neighboring islands flourished under colonial rule, and how their own fierce struggle to stay free isolated them from the major currents of modern development. Despite this, they have persisted in their quixotic quest to govern themselves.

Compared to the rest of us, the Moros were better equipped politically and culturally to resist colonial subjugation and wage war against foreign invaders. The sultanates were effective structures of rule in their time, and the spread of Islam in Mindanao well before the arrival of Spain had given its inhabitants a unifying and coherent way of life. On this basis, they fought Spain, they fought the United States, and they have continued to fight the Philippine government.

It is fascinating that P-Noy brought up the question of historic documents becoming objects of contestation. Something is indeed always lost (or added) in translation. He was referring to the 1878 agreement on Sabah between the Sultan of Sulu and the British North Borneo Co. But he could have been describing the US misreading of the 1899 Bates Treaty, which formed the basis of American rule over Mindanao until 1915.

The Bates Treaty, says the writer Saul Hofileña Jr. in his book “Under the Stacks,” led to the enactment of laws that caused the distribution of Moro ancestral lands to Christians and Americans. These actions sparked a war whose aftereffects continue to be felt until today. Among the most crucial in changing the political and social landscape of Mindanao, according to Hofileña, are the following: Public Land Act No. 718 which virtually erased land grants given to the traditional leaders of indigenous communities, a mining law passed in 1903 which opened up all public lands to exploration by Americans, the Cadastral Act of 1907 which ordered the survey of public lands for titling purposes, the 1912 resettlement of landless peasants from Luzon and the Visayas, and Acts No. 2254 and 2280 of the Philippine Commission which authorized the establishment of agricultural colonies in Mindanao.

All such actions drew their authority from Article I of the Bates Treaty. The Americans insisted that the article clearly stated: “The Sovereignty of the United States over the whole archipelago of Jolo and its dependencies is declared and acknowledged.” But this provision did not exist in the vernacular version bearing the signature of the Sultan. A subsequent translation of the Sulu text commissioned by Director F.W. Carpenter of the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes rendered Article I thus: “The Land of Sulu and its Islands are under the protection of the American Government.” No mention of American sovereignty. Under the terms of this treaty, Sulu was recognized as a self-governing entity under the protectorate of America. It was only on March 22, 1915, under the Carpenter Agreement, that the Sultan explicitly ceded “sovereignty over the Philippine portion of the Sultanate of Sulu in favor of the United States Government.” But, by then, so much had already happened that was irreversible.

American sovereignty over Muslim Mindanao later passed on to an independent Philippine Republic. But it is important to bear in mind that Spain and America were always fully cognizant of the particularities of Muslim Mindanao. After ceding the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, Spain made a move to return Jolo to the Sultan of Sulu, leaving the Americans to negotiate their own treaty. This prompted the US colonial authorities to propose the Bates Treaty. But, even as they asserted full sovereignty in 1915, the Americans thought it proper to deal with Muslim Mindanao as a separate Moro province. - source

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Is payment to Kirams for rental or transfer of Sabah?

A Malaysian official on Friday claimed that the payment being given to the Kiram family was not for rental but for the permanent handover of Sabah to Malaysia.

"The 1878 agreement between Alfred Dent and Baron von Overbeck of the British North Borneo Company and the Sultan of Sulu at that time stated that the Sultan of Sulu ceded the region of North Borneo permanently, and the heir is entitled to receive annual payment of 5,300 Mexican Pesos. It is not payment for rent, but as cession," Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman was quoted as saying by a New Straits Times report on Friday.

During the 15th century, the Islamic Sultanate of Brunei was nominally in control of Borneo, including Sabah and Sarawak states of Malaysia, and some parts of the Sulu islands in the Philippines. [See timeline here.]

But in 1658, the Sultan of Brunei awarded the northeast of Borneo (Sabah), including Palawan, to the Sultan of Sulu in compensation for his help in settling the civil war in his sultanate.

In 1878, Sultan Jamalul Alam supposedly leased Sabah to the North Borneo Chartered Company of Baron Gustavos von Overbeck and Alfred Dent. The chartered company eventually turned over the rights over Sabah to the British crown through an agreement in 1946.

Twenty-three years later, Sabah united with Malaya, Sarawak, and Singapore to form the independent Federation of Malaysia.

Now, Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III's family and followers are demanding recognition and an increased payment from Malaysia for their claim as the rightful owners of Sabah.

The Malaysian embassy in Manila has been paying the Sultanate 5,300 ringgit annually.

In an interview earlier in the day, Kiram's daughter Princess Jacel reiterated their claim over Sabah, adding that the measely lease payment of 5,300 ringgit was no longer acceptable to them.

Aman, however, said they "have never recognized any outside claims that Sabah does not belong to Malaysia and these claims are non-negotiable."

"I feel sad because this group is claiming that Sabah is theirs. Let me stress that there will be no compromise of our country's sovereignty and integrity," he said.

Lease vs. transfer

A look into the agreement, which was written in Arabic, entered into by then Sulu Sultanul Alam and the North Borneo Chartered Company on January 22, 1878 showed that different translations and interpretations may have caused the disagreement between the parties involved.

The translated agreement, as included in the book "Philippine Claim to a Portion of North Borneo" published by the Institute of International Legal Studies, University of the Philippines Law Center in 2003, was specifically translated as "Grant by the Sultan of Sulu of a permanent lease covering his lands and territories on the island of Borneo."

It also indicated in the body that Alam, on behalf of all heirs and successors, expresses the desire of all Datus to "lease, of [their] own free will and satisfaction" to the North Borneo Chartered Company "all territories and lands tributary to [them] on the mainland of the Island of Borneo."

It also required the representatives of the company to pay Alam $5,000 annually.

But another version of the agreement posted on Malaysia's State Attorney-General's Chambers website translated it as the "Grant by Sultan of Sulu of Territories and Lands on the Mainland of the Island of Borneo."

In the body, it also indicated that Alam, with the "consent and advice" of Datus, "grant[s] and cede[s] of [his] own free and sovereign will" the said territories to the North Borneo Chartered Company.

It also said the firm shall be required to pay the $5,000 as "compensation" for the "grant."

The translation published by the UP Law Center and posted on the Malacañang website was translated by Prof. Harold C. Conklin in 1946, while the one being carried by the Malaysian government website was published in the book "Treaties and Engagements Affecting the Malay States and Borneo" edited by William Maxwell and William Gibson. — KBK, GMA News

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Alfa AWUS036NHR / BackTrack5 Installation Guide

Alfa’s AWUS036NHR is Linux compatible. It also works with Backtrack 5, but is not plug and play. Driver installation is needed (note: at this time it does not appear to be possible to get AWUS036NHR into monitor mode AND have 802.11n capabilities at the same time, see Alfa’s AWUS036NH or AWUS036NEH for 802.11n and monitor mode capability in Backtrack 5).

The following is a quick install guide for Linux users. This should allow you to use your AWUS036NHR for Wi-Fi access in most recent Linux distributions running kernel 2.6.38, but as noted, monitor mode does not appear to be supported by this driver. Further down we have a link to a driver that is reported to allow you to use AWUS036NHR in monitor mode, but the corresponding web page notes the device will only have 802.11g functionality.

To install your Realtek RTL8188RU based AWUS036NHR in Linux, first download the driver here (http://www.rokland.com/mask/drivers/awus036nhr-linux.zip). The following steps were taken on a Backtrack 5 computer, but the steps should be similar for other recent distros.

*If you are not able to unzip the file in Linux, you will need to download the file to a Windows computer to unzip and then copy the contents to your Linux computer via flash drive or another method.

1.) When you have the files extracted on your Linux machine, open a terminal window and navigate to the location of the drivers.

2.) Type ./install.sh to install the driver package

3.) If installation completes successfully, then you can connect the Alfa adapter to the computer and open “Wicd Network Manager” from the Internet menu to connect to networks. Inside Wicd, click Preferences and change the network device to the AWUS036NHR adapter. If you are not sure of the device name, in a terminal window type “iwconfig” without quotes and it will list it there. Commonly the device will be called wlan0, wlan1, or wlan2 depending on whether you have other wireless cards installed on the computer.

4.) If you receive a makefile error about “no rule to make target modules”, you may need to prepare kernel headers. As root, at the command line run these commands (you will need to have Internet access on the computer already):

• prepare-kernel-sources
• cd /usr/src/linux
• cp -rf include/generated/* include/linux/

Upon completion, repeat step number 2 above to complete driver installation. Then connect the adapter to the computer and proceed to step 3.

URTWN Driver:

There is a driver called urtwn which specifies compatibility with RTL8188RU chipset-based devices, and allows for them to be put into monitor mode. The documentation for the driver explains that 802.11n functionality is not supported, so RTL8188RU devices will only operate in B/G mode. Rokland has not yet tried to use this driver with AWUS036NHR and is not able to offer installation assistance or support.

You can visit this site for download information and more details: http://resin.csoft.net/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=4&topic=urtwn

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Blackcat USB SPI Flash Programmer ST SPANSION MXIC AMD

BlackcatUSB a multi-protocol flash memory programming tool

Capable of programming thousands of flash memory devices using JTAG or SPI connections.

This eBay item includes: a new BlackcatUSB board, USB cable, and a jumper cable of your choice.

Features:

• Open-source software supports multi-languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish
• Fast 16MHz RISC processor
• 32KB Flash (upgraded from 16KB!)
• 2 DIP switches for mode application changes
• Upgradeable firmware over USB
• On board reset button
• Universal CFI Flash programming support (over JTAG)
• SPI Mode 0, 1, 2 compatible
• USB 1.1 / 2.0 compatible
• Dual voltage (3.3v or 5v) output

This product includes a choice of these three cables for your target device:

This device can be used to program the flash memory of thousands of different memory devices, including the BIOS chips often used on many newer motherboards for both PC and laptops. It can be used on millions of devices to fix broken devices due to bad or corrupted firmware.

MSI Eclipse Motherboard

MSI P6NGM Motherboard

MSI P6NSLI Motherboard

Easy to use Microsoft Windows based software:

Reading flash data using JTAG mode

Writing flash data using SPI mode

FREE Open-source software compatible with:
Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit versions)
Mutli-language support: English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish,
(Download software and driver, version 330)

Verified to work with these CFI Flash devices:

AMD S29GL320 Intel  28F128J3 Samsung  K8D3216UB MXIC  29LV800BMC AMD 28F400BT Intel  28F160B3 Samsung  K8D3216UT SHARP  28F320BJE AMD 29DL322GB Intel  28F160B3 ST M28W160CB SHARP  LH28F160BJHG AMD 29DL322GT Intel  28F160C3B ST M29D323DB SHARP  28F160S3 AMD 29DL323GB Intel  28F160C3T FUJITSU  29DL323GB SHARP  28F320S3 AMD 29DL323GT Intel  28F320B3 FUJITSU  29DL323TE Microchip  SST 39VF1600 AMD 29DL324GB Intel  28F320B3 FUJITSU  29LV160B Microchip  SST 39VF1601 AMD 29DL324GT Intel  28F320C3 FUJITSU  29LV160T Microchip  SST 39VF3201 AMD 29LV160DB Intel  28F320C3 FUJITSU  29LV320BE Microchip  SST 39VF800 AMD 29LV160DT Intel  28F320J3 FUJITSU  29LV320TE ST / Micron  MT28W320 AMD 29LV320DB Intel  28F320J5 FUJITSU  29LV800B ST / Micron  MT28W320 AMD 29LV320DT Intel  28F640B3 Micron  28F160C34B ST / Micron  29W320DB AMD 29LV320MB Intel  28F640B3 Micron  28F160C34T ST / Micron  29W320DT AMD 29LV320MT Intel  28F640C3 Micron  28F322P3 ST / Micron  M29W160EB AMD 29LV400BB Intel  28F640C3 MXIC  25FL0165A ST / Micron  M29W160ET AMD 29LV800BB Intel  28F640J3 MXIC  29LV161B ST / Micron  M58LW064D Spansion  29AL016M Intel  28F640J5 MXIC  29LV161T ST / Micron  M29W800AB ATMEL  AT49BV/LV16X Intel  28F800B3 MXIC  29LV320B TOSHIBA  TC58FVT160B ATMEL  AT49BV/LV16XT Intel  28F800C3 MXIC  29LV320B TOSHIBA  TC58FVB321 HYHYNIX  HY29F400TT Samsung  K8D1716UB MXIC  29LV320T TOSHIBA  TC58FVT160 HYHYNIX  HY29LV1600T Samsung  K8D1716UT MXIC  29LV320T TOSHIBA  TC58FVT321

Verified to work with these SPI Flash devices:

Atmel  AT25DF641 Microchip  SST 25WF040 ST / Micron  M25P64 MXIC  MX25L128 Atmel  AT25DF321 Microchip  SST 25WF040B ST / Micron  M25P32 MXIC  MX25L256 Atmel  AT25DF161 Microchip  SST 25WF080 ST / Micron  M25P16 EON EN25F20 Atmel  AT25DF081 Microchip  SST 25WF080B ST / Micron  M25P80 EON EN25F40 Atmel  AT25DF021 Microchip  SST 25WF016 ST / Micron  M25P40 EON EN25F80 Atmel  AT26DF081A Microchip  SST 25WF016B ST / Micron  M25P20 EON EN25F16 Atmel  AT26DF161 Microchip  SST 25WF032 ST / Micron  M25P10 EON EN25F32 Atmel  AT26DF161A Microchip  SST 25WF032B Windbond  W25X40 EON EN25F64 Atmel  AT26DF321 Microchip  SST 25WF064 Windbond  W25X80 PMC  PM25LV010 Atmel  AT45DB011 Microchip  SST 25WF064B Windbond  W25X16 PMC  PM25LV020 Atmel  AT45DB021 Microchip  SST 25WF128B Windbond  W25X32 PMC  PM25LV040 Atmel  AT45DB041 Spansion  S25FL256S Windbond  W25X64 PMC  PM25LV080B Atmel  AT45DB081 Spansion  S25FL128S Windbond  W25Q80BV PMC  PM25LV016B Atmel  AT45DB161 Spansion  S25FL128P Windbond  W25Q16BV PCT 25VF512A Atmel  AT45DB321 Spansion  S25FL064 Windbond  W25Q32BV PCT 25VF010A Atmel  AT45DB642 Spansion  S25FL032 Windbond  W25Q64BV PCT 25VF020B Atmel  AT45DB011D Spansion  S25FL016 MXIC MX25L10 PCT 25VF040B Atmel  AT45DB021D Spansion  S25FL008 MXIC MX25L20 PCT 25VF080B Atmel  AT45DB041D ST / Micron  N25Q00A MXIC MX25L40 PCT 25VF016B Atmel  AT45DB081D ST / Micron  N25Q512 MXIC MX25L80 PCT 25VF032B Atmel  AT45DB161D ST / Micron  N25Q256 MXIC  MX25L160 PCT 25VF064C Atmel  AT45DB321D ST / Micron  N25Q128 MXIC  MX25L320 PCT 26VF016 Atmel  AT45DB642D ST / Micron  M25P128 MXIC  MX25L640 PCT 26VF032 ST / Micron  N25Q064

Verified MCU specific devices supported:

Nordic nRF24LE1 (16KB  flash over SPI) Xilinx CoolRunner-II  series (XC2C32A, XC2C64A, XC2C128, XC2C256, XC2C384, XC2C512)

If you need to program a flash here that is not listed, just contact us and request to have it added. We are able to add any SPI or CFI compatible flash to our software free of charge. If you need a specific MCU supported (such as a device with on board memory that can be programmed via SPI or JTAG), contact us!

New feature: manual configure for SPI devices

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Rizal’s Settlement Project in Sabah

Image: Dr. Jose Rizal and Maria Clara (back-to-back, Rizal Park, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental)

“If it is impossible for me to give my country liberty. I should like to give it at least to these noble countrymen of mine in other lands”.

On his trip to Hong Kong, Rizal by chance met an Englishman Mr. W.B. Pryor and his wife, who were on their way to Sabah (North Borneo) to whom Rizal had shared his idea of a Filipino settlement in Sabah.

The owner of the territory, the Sultan of Jolo, had it leased to the North Borneo Company in 1878 and was duly recognized by Spain, Germany and England with the condition that Spanish sovereignty over the island of Jolo will be honored.

What was in the mind of Rizal that he desired to establish Filipino community in Sabah? He said in his letter to Blumentritt on February 23, 1892: “if it is impossible for me to give my country liberty.

I should like to give it at least to these noble countrymen of mine in other lands”. Based on this statement, we can conclude that Rizal was apparently considering of relocating his family in Sabah where he can organize a Filipino community who would devote themselves in agriculture, he serving as the leader. He observed in Hong Kong that Englishmen governed their colony well far from the persecutions suffered by the natives of Philippines from the Spaniards.

Text via National Historical Commission of the Philippines: Rizal’s Settlement Project in Sabah
by Quennie Ann J. Palafox

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Sabah crisis Timeline

Sabah on Borneo island has been the subject of a tug-of-war between descendants of a Sulu sultan and Malaysia. The crisis took a violent turn this month after Malaysian troops attacked members of the Sultanate of Sulu who arrived in Sabah on Feb. 14 to stake their claim on the island.

Here is a timeline of the events.

Feb 14, 2013 (Thursday) – Suspected Filipino gunmen numbering between 80 to 100 were cornered in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island trigerring the start of the standoff.

February 15, 2013 (Friday) – The unidentified group of gunmen introduces itself as the Royal Sulu Army reviving the longstanding claim of Sabah by the Sultanate of Sulu.

February 16, 2013 (Saturday) – Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin says the renewed claim on Sabah by the Royal Sulu Army is not sanctioned by the Philippine government.

“We made it very clear to the Malaysian authorities, especially to chief of defense forces, particularly to chief of defense force Gen. Zulkipli (Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin) [that] this is not sanctioned and without the blessing of the government,” Gazmin said in an interview in Baguio City.

February 17, 2013 (Sunday) - Sultan Jamalul Kiram III said his followers—some 400 people with at least 20 of them armed—will not leave despite a demand from the Malaysian government that they go back to the Philippines.

"Why should we leave our own home? In fact they (the Malaysians) are paying rent (to us)," Kiram told reporters in Manila.

February 21, 2013 (Thursday) – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) renews its appeal to Kiram's followers to withdraw peacefully from Sabah.

President Benigno Aquino III also warned the armed group that their actions may lead to conflict.

“Going there with arms is not the way to resolve this," Aquino said in his first public comments on the issue. When you brandish arms, naturally the other side has only one way to respond to such a challenge,” Aquino said.

February 22, 2013 (Friday) – Malaysia extends the original deadline for the Kiram followers to leave by 48 hours to Sunday.

But Kiram remains firm that his Royal Army will stay in Sabah.

“Puno na ako ng ultimatum... that ultimatum kako na wala naman,” Kiram said in the television report.

February 23, 2013 (Saturday) – Malaysia adopts a “wait-and-see” approach against the Royal Sulu Army which holed up in Sabah.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said their government is aiming for a peaceful solution, adding that it was important to resolve the issue without bloodshed.

February 24, 2013 (Sunday) – As the deadline for the armed group's surrender nears, a Philippine ship sails to Sabah on a “humanitarian mission” and is expected to arrive the following day.

“We are deeply concerned about the presence of five women and other civilians in the group, and we urge them to board the ship without delay and return home,” DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

Meanwhile, as the deadline for the armed group's surrender nears, there were reports that they are running low on food and supplies.

February 25, 2013: (Monday) – The Philippine ship on a humanitarian mission anchored off Sabah waters.

However, the spokesperson of the sultanate said that the Royal Sulu Army will not board the ship.

“Hindi sila aalis, with due apologies to the Malaysian government. Puwede lang ma-stop itong issue kung sila ay patay na dahil ang pinaglalaban dito ay hindi kapakanan ng pamilya lamang pero kapakanan ng sambayanang Pilipino,” Abraham Iridjani said.

February 26, 2013 (Tuesday) – Aquino appeals to Kiram to order his followers to go home.

“And so this is my appeal to you: These are your people, your people. It behooves you to recall them. It must be clear to you that this small group of people will not succeed in addressing your grievances, and that there is no way that force can achieve your aims,” Aquino said in a statement during the briefing.

On the other hand, Malaysian security troops got the go signal to disarm the Royal Sulu Army.

“It is only a question of right timing for us to act,” Sabah police chief Commander Datuk Hamza Taib was quoted in the report as saying.

February 27, 2013 (Wednesday) – Tensions rise as the deadline for Kiram's followers to surrender has passed while food is running low. Still, Kiram's followers remain defiant in staying in Sabah.

February 28, 2013 (Thursday) – Amid tensions between Kiram's followers and the Malaysian side, Malaysian police say they won't arrest the armed group yet.

March 1, 2013 (Friday) – Violence erupted on the 17th day of the Sabah standoff with a shootout after Malaysian security forces attempted to tighten a cordon around the armed group.

Twelve Filipinos and two Malaysian police officers were reportedly killed during the exchange of gunfire.

Meanwhile, 10 followers of Kiram reportedly surrendered while others went to the sea to escape.

March 2, 2013 (Saturday) – More bloodshed occurs with 6 Filipinos and 6 Malaysian police officers being killed in an ambush set by the Royal Sulu Army.

In the afternoon, Aquino appealed once again to the Royal Sulu Army to “surrender without condition.”

“Because of the path you have taken, what we have been trying to avoid has come to pass,” Aquino said.

March 3, 2013 (Sunday) – Malaysian cops say that three areas where firefights occurred were now under Malaysian control while a man linked to the earlier ambush was beaten to death after he tried to hostage civilians.

Mopping operations of some 300 homes in the village ended at 6:30 in the evening.

On the other hand, a new war was waged between Filipinos and Malaysians in cyberspace who defaced each other's websites.

March 4, 2013 (Monday) – Malaysia beefs up its forces in Sabah sending in an additional two army battalions as the death toll rises to 26.

Meanwhile, del Rosario met up with Malaysian officials in Kuala Lumpur to discuss a possible solution with “maximum tolerance” for the Filipino armed group in the Sabah crisis.

There were also 289 Filipinos who arrived in Mindanao after being deported from Malaysia. Most of them were women and children. A radio dzBB report quoted local social welfare officers, however, as saying the deportation was not related to the deadly clashes.

March 5, 2013 (Tuesday) – Malaysia's patience reaches its limit as it sent out jets to bomb the hideout of Kiram's followers in Lahad Datu, Sabah. Hundreds of troops moved in following the air assault.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's de facto law minister Nazri Aziz said that the Sulu Royal Army will be charged with murder, adding that the Geneva Convention will only come into play if Malaysia considered the act as war.

Nazri called the arrival of the armed Filipinos in Sabah in February as “intrusion into our sovereignty not a war.”

There were also 50 Filipinos who arrived in Tawi-Tawi after fleeing the conflict between the groups.

March 6, 2013 (Wednesday) – Malaysian troops claim they have killed another 13 suspected Philippine militants bringing the total number of dead to 40.

On the other hand, one of the leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front said that “thousands” of their forces are heading to Sabah to provide support to the Sulu Royal Army.

March 7, 2013 (Thursday) – Sultan Kiram's camp declares a unilateral ceasefire at 12:30 pm while maintaining a defensive position amid the continuing firefight between the Sulu Royal Army and the Malaysian security forces in Sabah.

Kiram's camp said that this was in response to a request from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to stop the bloodshed.

Malaysia rejects the ceasefire offer of the Kiram camp. – KG/RSJ, GMA News

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Putrajaya, Manila toyed with Sulu claim ?

LAHAD DATU: Was the Lahad Datu invasion by the royal Sulu army a case of frustration coming to a boil as a result of arrogant and dismissive Philippine and Malaysian authorities having trivialised persistent calls for respect, recognition and a review of the Sulu sultanate’s lease fee?

Reports spilling out of Manila following the stand-off and subsequent bloody clashes between Malaysian security forces and the Sulu army have thrown up a plethora of reasons ranging from the simplistic to the intriguing as both nations face defining domestic elections and, on a macro level, the looming shadows of China and the US.

On the Philippine domestic end, you have the Aquinos and Arroyos. In Malaysia it’s Najib versus Anwar. For the the latter two, Sabah is the political frontier which will define who will rule Putrajaya post the 13th general election.

Until last Friday when clashes broke out following the three-week stand-off in Lahad Datu, the odds were favouring the opposition.

In Manila, the questions being asked are why did President Benigno Aquino sideline the Kirams and what were the “deals”, if any, struck between the Aquino and Najib administrations on Sabah?

Over the past week, even as fighting escalated in Semporna and Lahad Datu, comments from either side on the issue have been inconsistent.

While Malaysia had patronisingly dismissed the intruders as sarong-clad-slipper-wearing malnourished “farmers”, Philippines had condescendingly told Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to order his inept boys back.

At one point, a frustrated Aquino had dismissed Kiram’s historical claim on Sabah but he later relented, saying a legal team had been set up to study the matter.

Reports that Manila had lost an important letter written and sent by Crown Prince Agbimuddin Kiram to the Philippine president in June 2010 had only fuelled the Sulu angst and left them believing that Manila was toying with them.

After all, these were not sudden issues that had popped up for the Philippines and Malaysia. Sulu, in fact, has been a perennial headache for both nations. It didn’t help either that Aquino’s initial emmisary to see Kiram III had been reportedly disrespectful and left the sultan feeling humiliated.

Umno’s vote bank

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario’s admission on Wednesday that he failed to attend to the “missing” letter, in which Agbimuddin had stated their claims on Sabah, the paltry rent they were being paid by Malaysia and their desire to take part in the peace talks with MILF , came too late.

Agbimuddin was leading the fight in Lahad Datu, in the east coast of Sabah, which is home to thousands of Filipinos who escaped from southern Mindanao during the earlier decades of civil unrest.

Children and grandchildren have since been born off these war refugees in Sabah. Their family ties allegedly now stretch as far up as the federal government and to Umno in particular.

Thousands of them were recipients of citizenships and MyKads in the 1990s as a result of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s aim to neutralise the Christians demographics in Sabah and ensure a loyal Muslim vote-bank for “life” for Umno.

The tens and thousands of Sulus like the Indonesians, Pakistanis and Afghans in Sabah have kept Umno in power for decades. Witness testimonies at the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) hearing in Sabah in January offered shocking insights into this Mahathir agenda.

It’s also amiss that Malaysia, knowing full well the Sulus’ deep links to Sabah, had not thought it odd that they were not included in the peace negotiations. The question then is, was the omission intentional? It seems somewhat imbecilic to think that Malaysia may have overlooked them by accident.

It seems too that Malaysia was incredibly careless and supercilious with how it has handled the Sulu issue, especially since it had admitted paying the Sulu royalty an annual lease fee, which a Kiram princess reportedly described as “not even enough to pay rental for an apartment”. Reports claim the Kirams receive RM5,500 a year from Malaysia, a sum which is shared among the lineage.

And there is also the increasing curiosity as to why a new negotiated “settlement” with the Kirams scheduled to have been paid on Jan 11 via a bank appointed by Bank Negara was withheld for some “unknown” reason.

A Kiram family member involved in the negotiation was stumped by the delay because the Malaysian authorities, she said, had been “receptive” and had agreed to the settlement.

In the first stage, the Sulu intruders had quietly slipped pass our sophisticated border patrols and landed in Lahad Datu on Feb 9. By Feb 12, they had made the news.

Their sole aim at that point, according to reports, appeared to have been to force both Malaysia and the Philippines into holding direct honest negotiations with the Kirams over rights, royalty and recognition.

As far as they were concerned, neither the Philippines, whom they had placed their implicit trust in for years to look out for their interest, nor Umno-Malaysia, whom Sabah Sulus had kept in power, had reflected the Kirams’ faith in them.

Greed and political expediency had cost lives. People have died brutal deaths in this Lahad Datu war and the Philippine government, along with Malaysia, have blood, widows and orphans on their hands. - source

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Sabah: ‘There was no Sabah referendum’

KOTA KINABALU: United Borneo Front (UBF) chairman Jeffrey Kitingan has disputed the context of the 1962 referendum which academics and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak claim confirmed Sabahans’ desire to be part of Malaysia.

Any talks between Malaysia and the Philippines must include Sabah because only the people of Sabah can decide what they want, says Jeffrey Kitingan.

“There has never been a referendum on Sabah as stated by some academics.

“In fact, the so-called referendum in 1962-63 was actually only a sampling survey of less than four percent of the Sabah population,” he said in response to Najib’s comments on Sabah yesterday.

Najib said there was no question of Sabah not being within Malaysia.

Said Najib: “On the question of polemics of whether Sabah is a part of Malaysia, I want to stress that the issue had been finalised in 1978 and Sabah is a valid region in Malaysia,” he said.

He said the Cobbold Commission had held a referendum and two-thirds of the people in Sabah agreed to the state being a part of Malaysia. The commission also obtained the recognition of the United Nations.

(The Cobbold Commission was set up to find out whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak were agreeable to the proposal to create Malaysia, made up of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.)

But Jeffrey, who also heads the Sabah chapter of the State Reform Party (STAR), said the Malaysia Agreement which incorporated terms of the Cobbold Commission “is yet to be implemented”.

“Najib must realise that Sabah belongs to the people of Sabah.

“Malaysia does not own Sabah as the Malaysia Agreement is yet to be implemented. Sabah is not a piece of lifeless property to be fought over between the Philippines [Sulu claim] and Malaya.

“Therefore, any talks between Malaysia/Malaya and the Philippines must include Sabah because only the people of Sabah can decide what they want.

“The [Sulu's] Sabah claim, whether valid or not, must be resolved once and fo all by bringing all the relevant parties to the table within the ambitof Britain and the United Nations and find a peaceful solution,” he said.

PMs have failed Sabah

He added that “the time has come to review the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement and ensure its viability and survival by addressing the unhappiness of the other remaining partners – Sabah and Sarawak”.

Jeffrey also pointed out that it was vital that the federal government clean up the mess created by (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno in Sabah which had put Sabah and its citizens at perpetual risk.

“They made Sabah insecure by supporting Muslim rebellion in the Philippines and supplying them weapons, giving them refuge and training facilities in Sabah and, worst still, by deploying them as voters in Sabah through the ‘Project IC Mahathir’, despite knowing full well that the same group of people from the Philippines have unsettled claims over Sabah.

“To restore confidence, the federal government must clean up the mess. Umno should leave Sabah politics to Sabahans and local political parties.”

Jeffrey said the Sulu invasion was proof that Malaysia and successive prime ministers, including Najib, had failed miserably to secure the safety and security of Sabahans.

“Now that the fear felt by Sabahans has become a reality, Najib, as the current premier, must not only guarantee the security of Sabahans but he must also restore their confidence because security was the number one reason why Sabahans agreed to be part of Malaysia in 1963,” said Jeffrey.

He said Najib “has a moral duty to put things right” in Sabah.

“That is why we Sabahans supported the RCI [Royal Commission of Inquiry] as part of a necessary action to put things right.

“But that is not enough. A lot more needs to be done to regain the confidence of the people of Sabah who feel cheated by the federal government,” Jeffrey said. - source

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UN stops Sabah killing fields

The United Nations stepped in Thursday to end the fighting in Sabah before it turns into genocide: Malaysia’s overwhelming air-ground military task force attacking about 300 armed followers of the Sultan of Sulu.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for an end to three weeks of escalating fighting that has left 40 people killed since the armed men landed on Sabah on Feb. 9 to press the sultanate’s claim to the territory as the ancestral homeland of Filipino Muslims in the Sulu archipelago.

The UN’s intervention came as Malaysian troops embarked on “mopping-up” operations after claiming to have “routed” members of the sultanate’s “Royal Army” in the air and ground assault launched on Tuesday. The Malaysian forces spread a dragnet over an area of four square kilometers in the village of Tanduao in Lahad Datu. The men led by Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, were reported to have fled to the jungles of Sabah after the air strikes and heavy artillery flushed them out after a 23-day standoff in Tanduao.

Reports quoted Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying that the bodies of 13 men from Agbimuddin’s group were recovered after the assault, bringing to 40 the number of people killed in the fighting. There were fears that the mopping-up operations would lead to a massacre of the sultan’s men in the hands of the Malaysian military machine.

The UN’s intervention had an urgent tone. In a statement issued by his office, Ban Ki-moon said: “The Secretary General is closely following the situation in Sabah and urges an end to the violence and encourages a dialogue among all the parties for a peaceful resolution of the situation.”

Ban also urged “all parties to facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance and act in full respect of international human rights norms and standards.” He likewise expressed concern for the civilians caught in the crossfire.

The statement was silent on the dispute between the Philippines and Malaysia for ownership of Sabah—a matter that the Sultan of Sulu had said he would elevate to the UN.

In attacking the sultan’s men cornered in something like a concentration camp, the Malaysian troops spared no force in flushing out the intruders. The assault was mounted by at least seven army battalions augmenting police units. It started at 7 a.m. on Tuesday when five F/A-18 Hornet and three Hawk 208 fighter jets dropped laser-guided bombs, followed by artillery bombardment, on the sultan’s men, who were pinned down in a small area after a firefight with Malaysian policemen on March 1. The jets pounded the invaders’ redoubt with the fury of bombing their targets “back to the Stone Age.” It smacked of the “overkill” strategy used by the US Air Force to win the Vietnam War without engaging the army of the North Vietnamese national liberation front in land combats, which led to a large loss of lives. This strategy did not help the United States win the Vietnam War. In the end, the army of the North Vietnamese national liberation front marched to liberate Saigon after defeating the US and South Vietnamese troops in the ground war.

The fighting in Sabah appeared to be morphing into a guerrilla war, at a minimum cost of lives to the guerrillas, as the sultan’s armed men dissolved in the jungles to evade the aerial bombardment.

The guerrillas will tie down the regular Malaysian troops, together with their jet fighters and helicopter gunships, to hit-and-run combat. The Tausug warriors of the sultan’s “Royal Army” are not about to pack up their guns and gear and return to Sulu under the threats and cajoling of the Philippine government, in concert with harassment and military action from the Malaysian government.

For generations, the Tausug of Sulu have been crossing the porous border to Sabah, a territory they have long believed to be owned by the sultanate. They form the bulk of the 800,000-strong Filipino population in Sabah, and they know the terrain of Sabah like the back their hands. They know every little hiding place in which to seek refuge from jet fighters and pursuing troops deployed by the federal authorities in Kuala Lumpur.

The Tausug warriors now trapped in Sabah have vowed they would never surrender to the Malaysian army and the importuning of a spineless Philippine government that has caved in to Malaysian pressure. The government is using all its powers and influence on our Muslim citizens to “surrender unconditionally” to the tender mercies of the Malaysian security forces or face a bloodbath in the killing fields of Sabah.

The Tausug of Sulu do not need to protest very hard to prove that they would rather die than surrender their sultan’s claim to Sabah under duress from Malaysia. They have proved this conviction countless times in the past. They have demonstrated that they have more conviction in the legitimacy of our claim to Sabah than any Philippine administration since 1963. - source

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Datu Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram rightful Sulu Sultan

Datu Muedzul Lail Tan Kiram, argued that he is the qualified leader of the people of Sulu.

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Macronix Breaks the 128 Mbit Barrier for Serial Flash in an Innovative and Simple Way

Serial flash memory using the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) utilizes a 24-bit addressing scheme that limits the maximum density to 128 Mbits. However, to be able to add new features, applications require greater densities. For these serial flash applications requiring more storage, many system engineers have been forced to search for alternative memory solutions.

While other non-volatile memory solutions will work, they don’t offer the well known advantages of serial flash - such as lower pin-count, smaller footprint, simplified board layout&design, reduced system noise/EMI, and reduced system cost. The ideal solution would be a serial flash device capable of breaking the 128 MB density barrier. As leading manufacturer of serial flash memory, Macronix has solved this problem by providing an innovative and simple operation mode; it extends the addressable range from 24-to 32-bits.

The increased address range will accommodate future serial flash memories starting with 256 MB to densities as large as 32 GB. Macronix is currently offering serial flash densities up to 256 MB, but with 32-bit addressing, there is plenty of room for future density increases.

Potential market applications are mainly system applications related to the storage of large application image files, as WiMAX, high-end data communication, set-top boxes, storage, high-end server and projector applications. Since high-density serial flash memory can provide high capacity storage combined with a low pin count, it’s the ideal solution for system processors/ controllers storing large program code images in non-volatile memory. In addition to code storage, a high density serial flash will have sufficient space for data storage, e.g. user data/configuration files that can be stored in the memory space not utilized by the code image. In other words, the market urge to adopt high-density serial flash memory is getting stronger.

There are up to 11 commands that require a 24-bit address for operation. Since there is already a large number of commands requiring an address, adding a new set of 32- bit address commands would double them. This would add complexity to the design of the silicon and increase its cost. To avoid this, the 256 Mbit serial flash can switch between addressing modes with only two newly added commands.

The actual method of operation is similar to the existing general command format where CS# is first driven low, followed by clocking in the 8-bit command for either entering (e.g. B7) or exiting (e.g. E9) the 32- bit addressing mode. Afterwards, one can use the standard commands in the normal fashion as long as one uses the appropriate number of address bits for the selected addressing mode.

Backwards compatibility to existing serial flash products was an important design consideration. This was fully achieved by the following methods:

• The 256 MB memory is always power-up in 24-bit addressing mode.
• 32-bit addressing mode is needed to access the hole 256 MB.
• The contents can be dumped to DRAM in 24-bit addressing mode.
• Since using an internal 32-bit address counter, the entire content can be accessed in 24-bit address mode.

That means that neither the processor nor the controller has to be modified and existing software using the 24-bit addressing scheme can be used.

Macronix breaks through the serial flash density barrier with a new 32-bit address mode that enables memory densities of 256 Mb and higher. System designers can continue to use the SPI structure for their new high density applications and still benefit from cost advantages of low pin count devices. Software engineers don’t have to worry about rewriting software but can continue to use their existing software and enhance it to take advantage of additional memory space. For the industry, this represents a milestone in the advancement of high-density serial flash and expands wideranging applications of serial flash memory.

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ST claims first 128Mbit serial flash device

STMicroelectronics (ST) announced a new 128Mbit serial flash device, the M25P128, which is intended for code storage in a range of computer and consumer applications. The product complements ST's existing code storage portfolio (from 512Kbits to 64Mbits) and is the first serial flash device in the market in this density, said the company.

The M25P128 is built using the company's 2bits-per-cell flash technology, which stores two bits of information in each memory cell to double the density compared to traditional production technologies. It is said to suit applications including printers, mobile devices, games cartridges, server and PC BIOS, PC peripherals, graphics cards, hard disk drives, CD/DVD players and recorders, PDAs, networking equipment, electronic dictionaries, digital cameras and modems.

According to ST, the use of a high speed serial interface rather than a parallel memory bus saves board space and costs through the reduced number of signals in the 4-wire SPI compatible interface, and the reduced size of the die allows smaller packages to be used compared to standard flash products. In addition, the system's CPU or ASIC can also have a lower pin count.

The M25P128 is available in 8-by-6mm MLP8 and S016 packages; both use ST's lead-free technology for RoHS-compliance. Operating over a supply voltage range of 2.7V to 3.6V, the M25P128 is specified for the -40°C to 85°C operating temperature range. Data retention is over 20 years, and the device guarantees more than 10,000 erase/program cycles per sector. Software features include both bulk erase and sector erase, flexible page program instructions, write protection and a JEDEC standard 16bit electronic signature to allow easy device identification.

Samples of the M25P128 are already available, with volume production planned for the first quarter of 2006. U.S. pricing is approximately $4.20 in volume.

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