[time-nuts] Frequency counter recommendation

Chris Albertson albertson.chris at gmail.com
Mon Dec 20 08:16:04 UTC 2010


I'm shopping for a solution right now.  I had several ideas both
discussed on this thread: Using an old notebook and an ARM based
appliance re-flashed to run Linux but neither would work well.  So I'm
buying this tiny new motherboard from Intel with an Atom CPU on it.
Sells for $70 with the soldered down CPU chip.  It is about 6.5 inches
square and uses so little power that there is no fan on the CPU heat
sink.

This computer will run an NTP server and therefor needs a "real"
serial port for the 1PPS signal from the GPS (USB will not work)   I
do't need much else.  The server does nt need a CDROM or even a hard
drive.  It can run on a RAM disk and boot off a USB memory stick.  It
does not need a monitor or keyboard either.  When you add it all up
this machine will cost about $100 and burn only 1/4 the power of the
old 200Mhz notebook PC.  Intel's "Atom" is very good with power.  ARM
uses even less power but I could not figure out how to get the 1PPS
signal to NTPd in any of the ARM platforms  I have plans to also
connect a WWV receiver to the same computer and decode WWV's time
code.  This means a fair  bit of processing and an audio interface.

THat is one way to solve the "how to interface you project to a
computer" -- you put the computer inside your project.  A $70 and 6.5
inch square motherborad makes that a reasonable plan.

-
=====
Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California



More information about the time-nuts mailing list