Re: gEDA-user: gRX OS board

[Dave McGuire <mcguire@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/8/10 5:05 PM, DJ Delorie wrote:
> > > At the moment, my board is running FreeRTOS when it runs an OS at all.
> >
> >     Oooh.  WANT!
>
> Want FreeRTOS?  Or one of these boards?

  One of those boards.  I run lots of FreeRTOS.  (ARM7, Philips LPC2xxx)

> 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.

  That sounds like a really nice setup.  I'm sure you'll have no 
problem driving the DVI interface.

> Other minor peripherals: Consumer IR (tv remote) receiver,

  Eh...lots of stuff has IR but nothing ever seems to use it. ;)

> 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).

  That's pretty cool stuff.

> 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.

  This all sounds like lots of fun to me.  Maybe a hair more SDRAM 
might be nice though.

  I especially like the ability to power-cycle the board without 
re-enumerating on the USB.  That's good thinking.

  Has anyone done up a nice Forth system for that processor 
architecture?  I might attempt it if I can get a cheap development 
board.  (it'd have to be SUPER cheap the way things are going down here 
lately, though)

            -Dave

--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL


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