DSL (Datasound Laboratories) announced two little SOMs (system on modules) employing “under-two-Watt” DMP processors. The VDX-200RD-PCI-B combines an 800MHz Vortex86DX processor, PCI expansion, and up to 512MB of RAM, while the VDX-304-PI-B has a 300MHz Vortex86SX CPU, PCI/ISA expansion, and up to 256MB of memory, the company says.

Like many other products resold by U.K.-based DSL — including, most recently, the ICOP-6326 SBC (single board computer) — these two new modules are obviously manufactured by Icop of Taiwan. Perusing that company's system on module product page, however, we find that DSL apparently is the first to offer the smaller of the two, the 48 x 48mm (1.9 x 1.9 inches) VDX-200RD-PCI-B.

Also announced by DSL was the 66 x 66mm (2.6 x 2.6 inches) VSX-304-PI-B, an existing Icop-branded version of which is the VDX-304RD-PI-B. (These product names do everything they can to proclaim these modules are aimed at engineers, not consumers, don't they?)

VDX-200RD-PCI-B

Surprisingly, it's the smaller VDX-200RD-PCI-B that has the more powerful processor and larger memory complement, so we'll begin there. The device employs the 800MHz Vortex86DX, a system-on-chip announced in 2008 by Icop parent company DMP Electronics.

Built using a 90nm process, the Vortex86DX comes in a 27 x 27mm package and is said to use under two Watts. It can run Linux (or Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded), has 256MB of embedded L2 cache, and supports up to 1GB of 233MHz DDR2 memory, according to its manufacturer.

DSL's VDX-200RD-PCI-B

As the image above shows, the VDX-200RD-PCI-B is dominated by the SoC itself, but also has room for either 256MB or 512MB of RAM. Persistent storage includes a 4MB SPI (serial peripheral interface) flash disk, an optional SST flash disk (512MB, 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB capacities), or an optional DMP-manufactured EmbedDisk module (16MB and above).

The little module's signals all travel to and from the outside world via a 200-pin connector to separately available baseboard, as you'd expect. The VDX-200RD-PCI-B provides a PCI expansion bus, 10/100 Ethernet, an IDE port, five RS232 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, and two 16-bit GPIO ports, according to DSL.

The VSX-DEV-200-PCI development kit

DSL also offers a development kit for the VDX-200RD-PCI-B, known as the VSX-DEV-200-PCI. Specs for this weren't provided, but the image above makes clear that this device houses the module, features a variety of headers, and has the following coastline ports: two PS/2 ports, two RS232 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and 3.5mm jacks for audio I/O.

Also clear is that the VSX-DEV-200-PCI has a PCI slot intended to accept the PCI-VGA-Z9s graphics adapter. Since the Vortex86DX does not support video output all on its own, Icop typically adds this to Vortex-based devices via a separate XGI Volari Z9s chipset, which is obviously the case here.

VDX-304-PI-B

The larger VDX-304-PI-B is bound to offer considerably slower processing, since it uses DMP's Vortex86SX, which is clocked at just 300MHz. Although virtues of this CPU are said to include sub one-Watt power consumption, it's only compatible with Linux and Windows CE, not Windows XP or Windows 7.

DSL's VDX-304-PI-B

This module comes with 128MB or 256MB of RAM. Persistent options are almost the same as on its larger sibling: a 2MB SPI (serial peripheral interface) flash disk, an optional SST flash disk (1GB, 2GB, or 4GB capacities), or the optional DMP-manufactured EmbedDisk module (16MB and above).

Here, a 304-pin connector is employed, relaying both PCI and ISA signals to a separately available baseboard. The VDX-304-PI-B offers an IDE port, four RS232 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a parallel port, two 16-bit GPIOs, and 10/100 Ethernet, according to DSL.

The VSX-DEV-304-PI development kit

Again a development kit is offered, this time known as the VSX-DEV-304-PI. The image above makes clear that this device houses the module, features a variety of headers, and has the following coastline ports: two PS/2 ports, two RS232 ports, and two USB 2.0 ports (the VDX-304-PI-B apparently doesn't do audio).

Once more, the baseboard has a PCI slot intended to accept the PCI-VGA-Z9s graphics adapter. It also appears to have an ISA slot, though no specifications were published to confirm that.

Further information

DSL did not cite pricing for the VDX-200RD-PCI-B or VDX-304-PI-B, but both the modules and their corresponding baseboards appear to be available now. More information may be found on the VDX-200RD-PCI-B product page and the VDX-304-PI-B product page.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at [email protected] and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

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