(press release) — OpenHardware.net announces availability of design data for a SIMM-sized 10BaseT Ethernet board. The tiny Ethernet interface board is meant to be used with the EZ328SIMM, a SIMM-sized single-board computer that contains a Motorola MC68EZ328 CPU and is supported by the current uClinux embedded Linux distribution. All design data, including the schematics & PCB GERBER data files needed to reproduce the MPU board (photo), Ethernet board, and a matching mini-motherboard (photo), are available for public download on the project's website.

This completes the reference design with all manufacturing data now available to construct a Linux based prototype system. The project goal has been to evaluate an MMU-less controller without paying the high cost of a more complex development system, and gain experience with embedded Linux. Schematics, development software RPMs, board data, and documentation are fully available online.

Individuals and companies seeking to rapidly transition into an embedded Linux platform, without undergoing the delay of designing their own evaluation system, are encouraged to duplicate the system for research and evaluation purposes. The Gerber data for reproducing the boards is restricted from commercial use; however, the schematics have no such restrictions (i.e. download them, and do what you want with them!).

The Ethernet board features:

• An SMSC LAN91C96 ethernet controller
  
• 93C46 EEPROM
  
• Address selection jumper pack
  
• Status LEDs for TX, RX, LINK & SELECT
  
• 72-pin form factor (SIMM size)
  
• Fully qualified address decoding within expansion memory mapped space

The 72-pin SIMM form-factor MPU board (photo) currently includes the following features:

• the MC68EZ328 CPU
  
• 2-8MB Flash memory
  
• 8MB EDO DRAM
  
• Battery-backed clock (Dallas DS1306E)
  
• 128K word external device bus (memory mapped space)
  
• Processor Reset & BDM mode invoked via the SIMM edge connector
  
• Lots of I/O pins! 9 general purpose I/O bits; 9 LCD control lines; 3 RS232 signals; 3 serial peripheral interface signals (SPI) at the SIMM edge connector
  
• External memory bus, organized as 128Kx16 for external add-on cards
  
• 96 bytes of battery backed SRAM (DS1306E)
  
• MPU can assert Reset to all bus devices
  
• Replaceable Lithium CR2032 “coin” battery
  
• Approx. 80 mA current drain

The motherboard (photo) currently includes:

• a prototyping area
  
• Touch screen & LCD interface logic
  
• 3 switching power supplies (+5V, +3.3V, +35V)
  
• 4 SIMM sockets
  
• DB9 RS232 connector
  
• 30 terminals for wired connections
  
• 2 RJ45 jacks for Ethernet cards

All development software tools and EZ328SIMM development environment are easily installed from RPMs. The RPMs were built and tested under RedHat 6.2, these are available from anonymous ftp on the website.

For further details, visit the project's website or send an email.

Related story:
OpenHardware releases MC68EZ328 SBC reference design
OpenHardware.net — the Open Hardware Network

 
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