IDEA: ARM stamp SBC ?

We posted an update of the 100mmx100mm open source board at "pcb dot linnix dot com / sbc1 dot html". But we need work on the Compact Flash and FPGA config flash. The board is headed in the right direction, but incomplete.

The ARM (AT91RM9200) is around $20. 64M SDRAM is around $10. Xilinx FPGA is arounf $15. Ethernet and USB Phy are around $10. It could be build for less than $100.

There are two pin headers for expansion, i.e. 80 for FPGA and 50 for memory.

Contact us if you are good at gSchem (schematic capture) and pcb (layout).

You mean, like this?

--
Rich Webb   Norfolk, VA

You can look here:

- Dejan

This is almost it, also price seems to be closer.

Thanks!

This one is good, but $99 feels too much.

Thanks for the link!

I found another one:

although on the higher price range.

You might want to look at this one.

$29

I am sure we can arrange a few AT91SAM7 samples for such a project. This would give you USB power as well.

--
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson
ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com
This message is intended to be my own personal view and it
may or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB

Olimex with their LPC2106 is the closest (especially as the price goes). But all the units mentioned here are modest.

I thought about putting the CPU (ARM or ??) with XC2S15 (452 cells, 15k gates FPGA). Just wondering if barebone Ethernet can be implemented in XC2S15 ? Or CAN transceiver ?

Started actually considering Lantronix DSTni-EX, has all the bells and whistles of networking processor. But have bad feeling about the power needs. And there was this discussion on this board few weeks ago about

186 being non "modern" CPU.

Someone would be interested to contribute their knowhow to such opensource project ? Seems Atmel wants to provide some samples, although I was thinking more Philips LPC2100 series, but options are open.

I would be willing to dedicate some resources to such project, but I prefer crunching algorithms on keyboard before soldering.

Hopefully such device can be done for under $30 CDN parts and labour.

Using the AT91SAM7X chip you get both Ethernet and CAN onchip. You can maybe find an alternative use for the FPGA...

This is in 100 pin TQFP, so I am not sure you can fit it into a 40 DIP pinout from a size point of view. You probably want to have a PHY on the module as well then, because otherwise you are going to eat up all the pins.

--
Best Regards,
Ulf Samuelsson
ulf@a-t-m-e-l.com
This message is intended to be my own personal view and it
may or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB

Most of them don't have SDRAM or FPGA anyway.

I doubt it, not with 15K. Why use such an old part for a new design? I would go for XC3S200 (200K) at least.

Exactly.

Even the smallest one is TQFP144. Even TQFP100 would not fit on DIP size PCB with DIP connectors on the side.

Btw. I had a look at your board you mentioned in the earlier post, but that is overkill for my purposes.

This is nice piece of hardware! Ethernet, USB, CAN, 2x USART, 2x SPI ... nice. And it is actually LQFP, so 2mm smaller than TQFP and theoretically it could fit within 13-14mm, maybe few DIP pins could be soldered from the bottom where CPU would be mounted.

I see that Atmel just released this chip recently. Would you care to lobby in Atmel to sponsor few devkits for such a project ? Hopefully there is someone crazy enough to design 15mm wide PCB with it and 2 other ICs.

Any idea about price range in sub-100 or single quantities ? Digikey (my favourite reseller) does not carry this part yet.

That is a good idea. Any suggestions for PHY ?

Thanks!

Here is the thought:

DIP40 board would have SMT header from the bottom, something like

this would leave all the real estate on the top available for AT91SAM7X and FPGA (whatever can be fitted onto 16-18mm width).

Pin 20 would be ground and pin 40 would be power. All other pins would contain CPU and FPGA I/Os. Ethernet PHY (DP83847 or DM9161) would be on the bottom side with 8 signals going out via auxiliary header, i.e. not reserving any DIP pins. Ethernet connector and magnetics would have to be external.

Is it possible to boot FPGA from CPU instead of serial FLASH ?

Yes, but the CPU must be able to run without the FPGA. I.e. not using the FPGA for CPU glue logics. Anyway, what are you using the FPGA for?

Also, don't forget voltage regulators, 3.3, 2.5 for XC2, 1.8 for XC3 and ATSAM

Not an ARM but a fast 32 bit CPU in a 40 pin DIP.

Better A/D and ingeneral a full match feature wise.

As low as $19.00 in quantity.,

Paul

That's great. AT91SAM7X does not need FPGA for boot, of course. FPGA is for configurability. Need interfacing CF or SD, various protocols my customers invented ... But for most applications is may just be chilling there powered down :)

Also has built-in 1.8V regulator.

And just for the record of this thread to keep the topic - I located another one from

using 66MIPS ColdFire. No ethernet, no programmable logic, just another one of those DIP adapter types. But the ColdFire chip they used seems to have all the bells and whistles of Atmel AT91SAM7X.

Then may I suggest a soft-core 1 million gates FPGA with

1. Arm 7
2. 10/100 ethernet
3. SDRAM (DDR or SDR) controller
4. CF/xD interface for booting and ATA
5. USARTs
6. 300K free gates for your custom design

in a 12mmx12mm Fine pitch BGA, or we can mount it on a 100 mil PGA (17x17 dual rows) for you.

It would be in the $99 range, depends on QTY.

Hi,

thought I would post another real answer to the original question, not some phantasy posting about 1Mio gates FPGA. Have a look here:

An Schwob