Taipei, Taiwan — (press release excerpt) — this week, National Semiconductor Corp. announced the availability of its Geode SCX200 family of Pentium-class system-on-chip (SOC) processors in a 40mm thermally enhanced plastic ball grid array (PBGA) package. The SCX200 SOCs integrate an x86 processor core along with all the major system blocks required for a high performance information appliance in one… package. These are the only processors with this high level of performance and integration available in a plastic package without an accompanying heatsink.

The Geode SC1200, SC1210, SC2200 and SC3200 single-chip processors were introduced in an enhanced ball grid array (EBGA) package in September 2000. The single-chip processors include a Geode GX1 32-bit x86 compatible processor module; a TV video processor (SC1200, SC1210), TFT (SC2200), and CRT (SC3200) outputs; memory controller; graphics controller; video input and output ports; core logic with support for PCI, USB and IDE devices; and a Super I/O block — all on a single low power, low cost device.

The Geode SP4SC31 development platform provides a wide range of features that enable manufacturers to design with the single-chip processors in PBGA. This includes stereo audio outputs, mono microphone input, two PCI slots, three USB connectors, an LPC slot, touch screen and button card, an 10/100 Ethernet card, and as separate kits, options for battery power and an RF interface. National provides a complete suite of optimized software drivers for Windows CE.NET, Windows XPe, and Linux (Kernel 2.4.17) as part of the development kit. All interfaces are configured for unique solutions for thin client devices, set-top boxes and consumer devices, including Microsoft 'Mira'-enabled devices.

 
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