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Looking for a low cost solution

Hello All,

I'm *very* new to embedded systems, please be patient.

I'm looking for a low cost solution for two things:

  1. Small display (8cmX13cm). Does not need to be high speed - it'll show only pictures. Also there is no need for user feedback (touch screen).
  2. Minimal system on a chip - CPU (16bit), Memory (~4k) and connection to flash memory card and UART input/output.

Thanks. Miki

Reply to
Miki
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You need to define "low cost." At Boeing a thousand dollars is low cost, but down the street at Mattel five cents is too expensive.

Reply to
Guy Macon

Hello Miki,

8cm by 13cm isn't small. How much interaction will there be between MCU and screen controller?

Reading a flash card through an MCU won't be very fast. Depending on how often you have to transfer images and the size of the memory on the display controller this might be better suited for a PC104 architecture.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

Hello Guy,

Sadly, I'm don't own Boeing :-)

Overall price should be around 1-3 US$

Thanks. Miki

Reply to
Miki

Hello Joerg,

screen).

MCU

Not much. My guess is a picture every 1 second on the worst case.

Thanks. Any pointers to PC104?

Thanks. Miki

Reply to
Miki

Hello Miki,

Sorry, I don't. Do a Google search, there are tons of vendors. Sometimes they are called "PC/104" or "PC-104", mostly one-chip PCs. However, they won't fit your budget. $1 to $3 is next to impossible if you want that large of an LCD. Maybe unless you are building several million a year and can afford the upfront NRE of an ASIC design.

For that LCD screen I would look at the toy market. If you see something in the store try to find out where that LCD came from. Chances are it's custom and very high volume.

Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

16bit processor with 8x13cm LCD and memory card capability, cannot be done for $3. Even if you are Sony and you can make a million of them at a time, the display alone will still cost you $30-40 for a cheap monochrome in volume. The processors I've seen with built in support for both LCD and brand-name memory cards (SD, CF etc) all run for about $15 ea (again in volume).

By the way, if you are thinking of the good ol' flash memory chip with a display to show photos, it's an idea that's been around the block for many years, but costs are still too substatial to make it happen, and thats why it doesn't yet. The closest you'll see for a while are the iPOD-like devices.

Ross.

Reply to
RossG

Is this a single project, or a production push ??

There a lots of little computers used in consumer products that can be used to build a small run for a proof of concept.

Looking at a similar product in production can give you an idea about what a product would cost to build.

Do a Goggle search for "Mattel JuiceBox".

There are hackers out there who have reverse engineered this $50 device. ( retail price )

hamilton

RossG wrote:

Reply to
hamilton

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