[time-nuts] Form Factor and such, Big Picture

[Bob Bownes]

I hadn't considered the possibility of using an embedded processor board.
That is an interesting possibility. The ability to run linux on it, as well
as have DSP and FPGA in hand would certainly up the ante a bit. A 400 mhz
DSP and 25Mhz CPU would be more than enough processing power.

Just thinking out loud here, I would imagine a main board that such a
processor plugs into with locations to plug in input modules, A/D
converters, a serial level converter (if there isn't one on the board), and
a front 'control' panel. The main board holds not much more than connectors
and traces to get signals from those modules to the processor board and/or
the A/D boards.

Hmmm.

Bob


On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 2:40 AM, Javier Herrero <jherrero at hvsistemas.es>wrote:

> El 23/12/2010 05:24, Bob Bownes escribió:
>
>
>>
>> ARM or other general purpose CPU is interesting, but at what cost for
>> complexity and/or software development? It would require RAM, IO
>> support, and boot rom at the very least. Not insurmountable, but at a
>> cost to complexity.
>>
>>  If you are not planifying to use an embedded operating system like
> uClinux or embedded linux, no need for external RAM or ROM. There are lot of
> ARMs from several manufacturers with 256kB flash and 64kB RAM or more for
> <$20, with a nice set of peripherals (USB, UARTs, CAN, even Ethernet without
> the need of an external phy). Software tools can range from free (GCC +
> eclipse) to quite expensive (IAR).
>
> If you plan to use an embedded operating system, then more RAM, more ROM...
>
> We've an embedded processor board that includes a Blackfin, 16 or 32MB
> flash, 32 or 64MB RAM and a 250,000 gate FPGA, and belive me, it is not so
> expensive (and if it would be interesting for a project like this, we could
> try to make a series with special time-nuts price)
> http://www.hvsistemas.com/en/prod/H8606.html
>
> Regards,
>
> Javier
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Javier Herrero                            EMAIL: jherrero at hvsistemas.com
> Chief Technology Officer
> HV Sistemas S.L.                          PHONE:         +34 949 336 806
> Los Charcones, 17                         FAX:           +34 949 336 792
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>
>
>
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