[hpsdr] Project proposal – Artemis or Arty for short.

[Chris Albertson]

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 10:13 PM, Kevin Wheatley <kevin.m0khz at gmail.com> wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

> A standalone PCB, probably Euro card size, 100 x 160mm, attached to an Ethernet switch in the shack. Controlled by a dsPIC33 running Microchip’s free TCP/IP software stack providing a web server. The web content will be stored on an SD Card,


Before you design that card, look at what you can buy off the shelf for $80.

Intel has a new 6.5  inch square Atom powered motherboard.   This has
a dual core Atom CPU soldered down.  It has a passive heat sink
because the Atom uses so little power.  Also is a Gigibit Ethernet
port, two real serial ports and a real parallel port, many USB ports
and also a slot for a new kind of Flash based "disk" that is about the
same price as SD but much faster.

But the big thing is the ease of software development on the Atom vs
any uP.  Atom can run Linux or any other OS you like and with the
price and size and power requirements so low it makes sense unless you
plan to build 1,000+ units.  But for a few dozen I think ease of
software development is more important than saving $20.

If you are really looking to save $$ and are designing a new network
based device have that device boot off the net.  That way no storage
is required and you keep the boot image on the PC where it is easy to
maintain and modify
-- 
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Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California

 1295979995.0