September
1998, Issue 98
TCP/IP
Networking
ON
THE SEARCH
Although
the logic engine interface isn’t a very general
example, it shows you the essentials for building an
Internet device.
It
would be easy to replace the logic engine interface
with a PC/104 A/D board that plugs into to the Ethernet
device, then change the code to read out the data from
the A/D board and send it to the workstation using a
TCP/IP stream. Voilą, an Ethernet-based data-acquisition
device. I’m sure you can think of other applications
as well.
One
thing that bothers me is that it’s still kind of
expensive to implement this sort of thing. At one end
of the spectrum, you can find reasonably priced ’386-based
PC/104 cards that require an Ethernet module to be added.
Photo 2 shows a PCM-3335 module like this from Versalogic.
There are also high-end ’486- and Pentium-based
super cards with integrated Ethernet and SVGA and so
forth, but that’s overkill.
|
Photo 2—The
PCM-3335 is a complete i386 computer module
that includes common PC/AT devices such as floppy
and IDE controllers and serial and parallel
ports. Add an NE2000 PC/104 Ethernet module,
such as the PCM-3660, and you’re in business.
|
It
seems like there should be a no-frills i386-based PC/104
module with integrated NE2000-compatible Ethernet controller.
Well, I’ll keep looking.
Ingo
Cyliax has been writing for INK for two years
on topics such as embedded systems, FPGA design, and
robotics. He is a research engineer at Derivation Systems
Inc., a San Diego–based formal synthesis company,
where he works on formal-method design tools for high-assurance
systems and develops embedded-system products. Before
joining DSI, Ingo worked for over 12 years as a system
and research engineer for several universities and as
an independent consultant. You may reach him at cyliax@derivation.com.
