Re: gEDA-user: gRX OS board

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > At the moment, my board is running FreeRTOS when it runs an OS at all.
> 
>    Oooh.  WANT!

Want FreeRTOS?  Or one of these boards?

(also see http://www.renesasrulz.com/community/rx-contest - although
that board is 3x bigger and has no sdram, dvi, or ps/2)

I have three more blanks, but they run about $135 in parts and stuff
plus $50 for the pcb (my cost).  I've been trying to finish the
initial round of hardware testing before making any more, hence the
verilog questions - I don't know if I *can* successfully drive a DVI
monitor yet, for example.  I haven't tested the PS/2 interfaces yet.
Everything else seems to work fine.  The FPGA test program, for
example, is a FreeRTOS app that has a console command line (FT232R)
that downloads the fpga file from my web server into the sdram, then
programs the fpga.  The backup app reads the fpga file off the microsd
(FAT filesystem) for when I screw up and hoze the memory bus.

Other minor peripherals: Consumer IR (tv remote) receiver, ambient
light sensor, temperature sensor, stereo audio out, wall power voltage
monitor (was going to monitor current also, but the design is flawed),
second serial port (ttl header).

The board has three switching power supplies and runs of USB power
*or* 8-16 VDC wall power (although not everything gets power from usb,
like the PS/2 connectors, due to the limited current available).
Actually, the FT232R remains running if either power is there, so you
can power cycle the board without losing the usb connection.  It can
be reprogrammed using the FT232R (gRX mode) or firmware can be
downloaded over the native USB port.  When I'm developing, I usually
have two USB cables connected to it - one for the console (includes
remote reset and mode control) and a second for the USB firmware
download path.

For my second RX project, I was thinking of a board with an ethernet
switch chip (the RX has MII) and a USB hub chip, plus microsd and
sdram.  That gives you a home firewall/appliance/server box with 2Gb
of "disk space" and 64 Mb of RAM.


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