Searching for webserver board/module with some I/O

For a demo project we want to use a webserver interface to some simple hardware. The initial demo will be 3 devices and after that a very small annular volume. For that reason we don't want to invest too much in hardware/software development and are searching for an off the shelf product. I thought I would find that in a minute, but so far I have been unsuccessfull. What we would like:

- Module or board (will be built in control box)

- Ethernet (10/100)

- 2 analog inputs

- 2 analog outputs (or PWM)

- 2 digital inputs

- 2 digital outputs

- Stepper motor control, but this can be with external hardware and 'step' output only. Limited frequency and accuracy

- Webserver with a few static web pages for reading/writing values

- Upload of pages

- Run a simple "control loop" (example: Aout = Ain * m + b)

- Control the stepper motor step frequency

- Configurable fixed ip address Can be like on routers: reset to default and config via web But other methods welcomed as well

- Web pages, control software and configuration stored stored in NV memory

Anyone know anything that will fulfill (most of) the above?

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Stef    (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

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Stef
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With the exception of the stepper control software, I think that everything you need is available here:

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Feel free to contact me offline (remove XXX) if you need more details.

Stephen

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Stephen Pelc, stephenXXX@mpeforth.com
MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd - More Real, Less Time
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Stephen Pelc

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Reply to
hamilton

For example a Freescale Coldfire v2 (MCF5223X) demo board should do the trick.

Bye Jack

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Yoda of Borg am I! Assimilated shall you be! Futile resistance is, hmm?
Reply to
Jack

Looks like this board has most of the hardware we require. But how about the software? Ideally there should be ready to run software to which I can add some small control functions and supply the html for the web pages. The 'ready' software should at least cover TCP/IP (including a means of setting op de IP adress and related stuff) and a webserver.

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Stef    (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

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Reply to
Stef

I did browse Sparkfun but did not stumble on this one as I was not looking for a PIC development board. :-) Again, looks like usable hardware but seems to require a fair amount of software development. Or did I not understand it correctly an can I just upload some html pages and a control loop?

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Stef    (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

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Stef

Yes, there are a lot of devboards out there with the required hardware. But the trick is finding one with software that can be used without, or with little, modification and that allows a user/installer/our customer to change the IP adress without a compiler or other 'complicated' tools.

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Stef    (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

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Stef

Thanks all for the responses so far.

In the mean time I realised that a simple PLC might be more appropriate for the task. But the small ones (Siemens LOGO, Crouzet Millenium) are mostly very limited in analog outputs and require extra modules to support a webserver.

Then I found this one:

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looks like it has all I require and the price is also not bad, $ 229,- on the US webshop. I will call a nearby distributor in the morning to check availability, usability and price overhere.

Anyone experience with this one (or with the brand)? Or other suggestions of similar boards?

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Stef    (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

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Stef

Yes, I have one of these board in the garage. That's why I suggested:

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The fmd88 is very powerful, but ladder logic just does not make sense to me.

Programming C on MPLAB was much easier.

My $0.02

hamilton

Reply to
hamilton

yes, you can load html pages to the on-board serial flash.

Control loops are written in C.

As I said in an earlier post, Ladder logic is just to strange.

hamilton

Reply to
hamilton

l

y by mail)

What about BeagleBone? I know it has digital I/O and analog inputs, but may not have analog outputs, but I expect a PWM is not beyond it. It's strong suit is the web software. It runs Linux and has lots of software support and even a wide variety of modules. You may need to cobble together something to make the I/O voltages compatible with your needs, it is a CPU with no special I/O hardware. It's also very inexpensive at $89, IIRC.

Rick

Reply to
rickman

Maybe Netburner? for example? (I have no direct experience with these, because our project went with simpler gear .. we only wanted simple binary UDP/IP. We took only the briefest look.)

Mel.

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Reply to
Mel Wilson

The standard fit demo software includes a multi-threaded web server. You put the pages on an SD card. You can configure the TCP/IP stack to use a static IP address or get one by DHCP.

Perhaps we should now take this off-line.

Stephen

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Stephen Pelc, stephenXXX@mpeforth.com
MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd - More Real, Less Time
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Stephen Pelc

then get an Arduino Ethernet

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+ an Arduino Motor
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I'm sure there is plenty of (almost) ready to use software out there ;)

Bye Jack

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Reply to
Jack

Ladder programming is not my favorite either, but i think I can manage for the very small amount that is required for this project. But apart from that, is the board any good? Webserver, file upload, etc.

My experience with C on PIC is very old (15 jears?) and vary bad. After a few tests we reverted to asm. Since those days we have not used PIC in many projects, the AVR and ARM where in our opinion much easier to work with.

Have things improved a lot since then? I should think so. Maybe we should have another go at PIC when we have a suitable project. How is the compiler these days? When we tried it, I think microchip was the only one selling a compiler. And at a price I can not justify for this 3-piece project when I can buy ready hardware+software for just a little bit more per board.

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Stef    (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

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Reply to
Stef

Dunno about the analog, but WinSystems may have a product that gets close - and maybe romdos with Sockets or even a linux package would get you close to your software solution.

They just celebrated 30 years in the embedded biz. dig around at;

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Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

Never got that far.

Yes, I agree 15 jears ;-) is a long time.

The PIC18 family is so much better and was designed to be C compatible. Also, a PIC18 compiler is free with Microchips IDE.

I have developed 10 PIC18 boards in the past 4 years.

I have only experimented with the PIC18 w/ethernet, but I will be added yet another product to the mix soon.

Microchip products have come a long way from the PIC16C series of 10+ years ago.

If you have time enough to learn ladder logic, you will be able to pickup PIC18 very easily.

hamilton

Reply to
hamilton

A few years ago some colleagues of mine were programming PICs using the C2C compiler; that compiler was actually very bizarre, but they got working results. Since then SourceBoost have gone on to make a real C compiler. Price was a strong concern at that site, so they're still using SourceBoost. ISTR the only obvious discrepancy from the standard was that sizeof was treated as a function rather than an operator, so () were mandatory.

Mel.

Reply to
Mel Wilson

229,- on

to check

suggestions

to me.

Just skip PIC16 and PIC18. PIC24 is OK. PIC32 is better. PIC32 C is GCC based, no porting problem. PICKIT 3 will program any PIC32 chip. TCP/IP stack is available from Microchip library.

Reply to
me

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also not bad, $ 229,- on

in the morning to check

brand)? Or other suggestions

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not make sense to me.

manage for

apart from

bad. After

used PIC in

to work

project.

microchip was

justify for

just

based, no porting problem. PICKIT 3 will program any PIC32 chip. TCP/IP stack is available from Microchip library.

The new PIC32MX250F128 seems cool. It is smaller (44 pins vs. 64 pins) and with remapped I/Os (similar to PIC24). The remapped I/Os are missing in previous generations of PIC32. We will be switching to this chip in a new design.

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me

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