LinkGear is shipping a small form-factor, ultra-low-power network appliance device that comes preinstalled with Linux, and targets WiFi bridging and routing applications. The LinkGear Series 100 (LG100) is powered by an SH-4 (SuperH) processor, draws only two Watts (typical), and costs $200 in quantities of 25+, the… company says.

(Click for larger view of the LG100)

The LG100 is based on a Renesas SH4-7751R processor clocked at 240MHz. The processor includes an MMU (memory management) as well as an FPU (floating-point unit), and has 16KB of instruction cache and 32KB of “operand cache,” LinkGear says.

LG100 board, top and bottom views
(Click each image to enlarge)
The LG100 comes with 128MB each of flash and RAM. Storage is expandable via two internal USB pin headers, said to support the attachment of an NEC USB-to-IDE adapter board that supports a 2.5-inch hard drive or CompactFlash-ATA device (i.e., a CF card or microdrive).

The LG100 comes has a pair of RJ-45 wired 10/100 Ethernet ports powered by RealTek RTL8139 controllers. It also has two mini-PCI slots, and knockouts for SMA-type RF antenna assemblies. In addition to WiFi modules, the mini-PCI slots can support a third Realtek-based LAN port board, or a PoE module. It also has three USB ports, two of which appear to support USB 2.0.

LG100's ports
Optional mini-PCI peripherals add to the LG100's power budget, LinkGear notes. The LG100 comes with a 5V, 2A power supply. Operating temperature is listed as 32-140 degrees Fahrenheit (0-60 degrees Celsius).

The LG100 comes with a steel housing measuring 8 x 4-3/8 x 1-1/2 inches (203 x 112 x 38mm). It weighs 1.2 pounds.

Linux implementation

The LG100 comes preinstalled with an RPM-based Linux implementation built against glibc, LinkGear says. The implementation appears to use a 2.6.12 kernel, with “LinkGear-linux” patches. It also includes a “non-MTD” NAND flash block device driver supporting an EXT3 journaling file system, the company says.

The LG100's user interface is based on serial console redirection, or an SSH login. It comes with an NFS server, for easy cross-development.

LinkGear offers an impressive downloads page for the LG100. The page includes a kernel binary, kernel sources, LinkGear kernel patch, a minimal filesystem, a native development filesystem, a GCC-based cross-development toolchain, and a well-written six-page user guide.

Availability

The LG100 is available now, priced at $200 in quantities of 25 or more.

A quick start guide, developer's FAQ, and relatively active user forum are also available online.

The LG100 bears a very close resemblance to Nimble Microsystems' TNP-51R

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