AMD announced availability of a hardware/software reference design for developing tablet form-factor portable multimedia and data terminals based on the company's Alchemy Solutions Au1500 RISC system-on-chip processor. The kit includes a reference board along with a 12.1-inch diagonal 1024 x 768 pixel color LCD touchscreen, battery, debug card, enclosure, and design files, and runs on either Linux or Microsoft Windows CE based embedded operating systems, the company said.

According to AMD, the Portable Media Tablet RDK includes a Silicon Motion Voyager Gx Graphics controller as well as a Philip TriMedia two-dimensional graphics processor, providing 1280 x 1024 x 16bpp video display along with advanced multimedia playback capabilities that include MPEG1, 2, and 4; Microsoft Windows Media Video 8 and 9; and MP3 functionality. Other key features include Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), wireless LAN support for easy home networking, and power management functions, the company said. Multiple wireless LAN standards including 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a are supported via the platform's Mini-PCI expansion location. Onboard memory includes 128MB SDRAM (expandable) and 64MB “MirrorBit” Flash memory (also expandable).

The Au1500 processor is a MIPS32 technology-based system-on-chip processor that is available at speeds up to 500MHz, with power dissipations as low as 400 mW (at 333 MHz). On-chip functions include a PCI bus controller, GPIO, two 10/100 Ethernet controllers, USB Device and Host controllers, two UARTS, an AC-97 controller, and a PCMCIA controller.

The Portable Media Tablet RDK is priced at $3,500 and is currently available in limited quantity, with full production expected by August of this year, AMD said.

The first public demonstration of the Portable Media Tablet RDK will be at WinHEC, May 5-7 in New Orleans, AMD booth #900.

 
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