Massive RS-232 required - any x86 boards out there?

Hi folks,

I am just getting into embedded work and have the following requirements which seem to be very hard to meet. Appreciate any pointers or links or even war stories. I come from a standard PC software development background, having used multi-tasking on DOS with the RTKernel library from On-Time.com, now also looking at uC/OS-II, eRTOS and the like. The SBC I am looking for needs to be fairly economical and preference is for PC/104 types.

CPU: minimum 386 type, must be Intel type that can be compiled for by the Borland C/C++ 4.5 compiler. RS-232 com ports: need at least 6 (yes, SIX) RS-232, cannot be RS4xx type or TTL. I can handle shared IRQs if necessary. RAM: at least 512K, 1MB preferred STORAGE: Flash Disk (min. 256 KB), Non-volatile SRAM (battery backed, survives power failure) of min. 32 KB for heavy duty data logging, no PROM or EPROMs required for now. No hardisk or other rotating media allowed but can use Compact Flash holder through IDE cable as a small harddrive.

Optional Extras: keyboard (4 x 4 or better), LED/LCD ( 1 x 20, 2 x 16, or better), OR PC-type VGA/Keyboard.

I have come across quite a few suppliers who match some of the criteria above but I get the feeling there must be more out there.

Thanks in advance,

Harnek

Reply to
Harnek Singh
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Check out the Ether6 board at

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Seems like a good fit.

Doug

even

On-Time.com,

or

Reply to
Doug Dotson

... snip ...

That seems a silly requirement inasmuch as gcc is available for almost all prevalent systems. In addition that Borland compiler is obsolescent.

At worst you need two 8 bit ports to control up to 64 independant uarts. One port controls direction, data/status, and uart selection. The other moves the data or status. After that the uart chips themselves need at least two output lines for RD and SD, and it would be pleasant if those were RS232 levels, but possibly expensive if line transients destroy the chip.

I think you are looking for the wrong thing.

--
Chuck F (cbfalconer@yahoo.com) (cbfalconer@worldnet.att.net)
   Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems.
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Reply to
CBFalconer

Depending on your requirements on the RS232 ports a bit-banging approach could be very effective... For example I designed a 40-(yes, fourty) RS232 ports device using bit-banging on a low cost x86 PC104 board, using standard

8255 I/O ports. In that application all ports were transmit-only and was able to sustain 115Kbps, however I'm pretty sure that 6 RX/TX ports could easily be managed by bit-banging too...

Just an idea...

Yours,

Robert Lacoste - ALCIOM : The mixed signals experts

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"Harnek Singh" a écrit dans le message de news:blotta$mcn$ snipped-for-privacy@mawar.singnet.com.sg...

even

On-Time.com,

or

Reply to
Robert Lacoste

Hi doug,

Thanks. i have looked at both Ether6 and LogicFlex and leaning towards the latter. There is also icoptech.com and embeddedx86.com that I am checking out.

Regards, Harnek

Reply to
Harnek Singh

Have you checked out

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They make a x486 PC104 CPU w/ 4 serial ports and they also make a 4 port serial card that you could add on the stack.

Reply to
Steve

Harnek,

Here's one more suggestion that might meet your needs:

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Right out of the box, FN supports 6 RS-232 ports, has 512 KB SRAM/512 KB ROM. Also has optional onboard CompactFlash interface for the data storage aspect of things, along with royalty-free FAT12/16 filesystem. Single quantity, $159/unit.

The FN is 186-family, real-mode operation only. You sure you need protected mode operation (suggested by your '386' requirement)? The development environment we work with is from Paradigm, which I understand is a licensed embedded derivation of the Borland compiler/environment. If you prefer to use your own compiler, not a problem.

(Although the Paradigm devtools will be needed to link/relocate/download final executable into the board.)

One of the 6 RS-232 ports is used as a debugging port, however, so you'll need to be a little creative during development. You'll have to reroute references to that port to one of the other ports during debugging... and then in the final compiled application, reroute the code to point to the original SER0 port.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Reply to
Chon Tang

Oops, I neglected to mention in my previous reply that there's also a character-keypad/LCD expansion board that plugs directly into the FlashCore-N:

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, $99 qnty. 1.

C/C++ samples provided for all above the above functionality. If you're into ucOS-II, our boards are also compatible.

Reply to
Chon Tang

Harnek,

Since you have been looking at our LogicFlex,

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I wanted to let you know for more RS232 ports, we have added a couple different Serial/Parallel cards,

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But, based on your application, I think our Flashlite 386 board would be the place to start:

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The dev kit, which includes the board and Borland compiler, is only $229.

Brian

Reply to
Brian

Thanks. will check it out

Harnek

the

Reply to
Harnek Singh

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