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3.5-inch SBC goes for AMD’s G-Series chips

Nov 30, 2011 — by Eric Brown — from the LinuxDevices Archive — 4 views

Avalue announced a 3.5-inch single board computer (SBC) equipped with AMD's dual-core 1GHz G-Series T40E or 1.6GHz T40N processors. The ECM-A50M has up to 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, a CompactFlash slot, VGA and HDMI connectors with dual display capability, and an optional touchscreen interface.

In recent months, it seems as if we've seen as many new embedded boards with AMD's graphics-enabled G-Series processors as we have Intel Atom-based fare — if not more. Joining the pile-on is Avalue, which is offering its new ECM-A50M with a choice of two dual-core CPUs.


ECM-A50M

The standard model offers the dual-core, 1GHz AMD T40N, featuring a 9 Watt TDP, while the dual-core, 1.6GHz T56N (18 Watts) is said to be optional. Somewhat confusingly, a recent press release also announced a board by the same name that is said to offer an even lower power, 6.4 TDP T40E, but this chip is not mentioned in the data sheet.

As the SBC's name suggests, both the T40N and T56N versions feature an AMD A50M controller hub. The ECM-A50M supports up to 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, and a solder-side CompactFlash socket is said to be available, along with dual internal SATA ports and a mini-PCI Express slot.


ECM-A50M detail
(Click to enlarge)

The 5.7 x 4.0-inch board offers VGA and HDMI ports on the coastline, as well as a dual channel 18/24-bit LVDS interface on the opposite end of the board. The SBC provides dual simultaneous display combos including CRT+LVDS, HDMI+LVDS, and CRT+HDMI, says the company. An optional built-in touchscreen interface, built around a PenMount 6000 chipset, offers a 9-pin, 2mm box header that can support a 4/5/8-wire touchscreen.

The ECM-A50M supplies dual gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as seven USB 2.0 ports, one of which is available on the coastline, says Avalue. An RS-232 port and an RS-232/422/485 port round out the I/O selection, with one of them sitting on the coastline.

Internally, there's an LPC interface, audio I/O, and 16-bit GPIO, says the company. The SBC is said to support temperatures ranging from -40 to 167 deg. F.

Features and specifications listed for the ECM-A50M include:

  • Processor — AMD G-Series T40N (dual-core, 1GHz); optional T56N (dual-core, 1.6GHz)
  • Chipset — AMD A50M
  • Memory — up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 SDRAM via 1 x SODIMM
  • Storage expansion — CompactFlash Type I/II socket; 2 x SATA
  • Expansion — Mini PCI Express (with mSATA support)
  • Display:
    • VGA (up to 1920 x 1200 CRT resolution on T40N, up to 2560 x 1600 on T56N)
    • HDMI
    • LVDS (dual-channel 18/24-bit ) with transfer via DDI
    • simultaneous dual display (CRT + LVDS, HDMI + LVDS, CRT + HDMI)
    • optional touchscreen interface (PenMount 6000 chipset, 9-pin, 2mm box header with 4/5/8-wire touchscreen support
  • Networking — 2 x gigabit Ethernet
  • Other I/O:
    • 7 x USB 2.0 (1 x coastline port)
    • 1 x RS-232
    • 1 x RS-232/422/485
    • LPC
    • audio mic-in, line-in, line-out (Realtek ALC892)
    • 16-bit GPIO (8-bit in, 8-bit out)
  • Power — AT/ATX with +12V input; ACPI 3.0 compliant
  • Operating temperature — -40 to 167 deg. F (-4 to 75 deg. C)
  • Dimensions — 5.7 x 4.0 inches (136 x 101mm); 3.5-inch form factor

Availability

No pricing, availability, or operating system support was listed for the ECM-A50M. More information may be found on  Avalue's ECM-A50M product page as well as this data sheet [PDF].


This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.



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