From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-Id: <199910260629.IAA20848@denx.local.net> To: sorin@nitechinc.com Cc: linuxppc-embedded@lists.linuxppc.org Subject: Re: dev boards comparison From: Wolfgang Denk Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 25 Oct 1999 09:48:15 EDT." <99102509535300.00577@splash.nitechinc.com> Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 08:29:46 +0200 Sender: owner-linuxppc-embedded@lists.linuxppc.org List-Id: Hi Sorin, in message <99102509535300.00577@splash.nitechinc.com> you write: > > We're in the process of deciding which board to use for the > developement of our embedded products... we have now a > FADS 860 board... but we aren't that much impressed by it. Which CPU are you looking for? > So can anyone please tell me which one is better from the > point of view of developing embedded solutions based on > Linux? > We are considering the FADS, along with the MBX boards > from Motorola and the RPX boards from Embedded Planet > Any pros and cons for this boards? I had 2 *very* early (F)ADS boards, but then we were using some 30 MBX boards for the rest of the projects (not for Linux, but this is not really important here)... Guess why. If your only choice was between FADS and MBX I would use the MBX. Just my $0.02 ... > Are there other boards that might be considered? Probably yes. I am using the mini modules by TQ Systems in several projects, see http://www.tqs.de/HTM_Files/TQM8xx_Serie.htm for hard- ware desriptions). The TQ starter kit, which functionally is very similar to the MBX board, is intentionally somewhat cheaper. But IMHO an even more interesting feature is the separation of the "mini module" (containing CPU, RAM, SRAM and FLASH memory, power supply, etc.), from the rest of the framework needed to make a usable configuration (mostly connectors). This results in a neat, very small module (less than half a credit card!), that can be used as-is for your final application - all you have to design is a (simple, cheap) carrier board with what you need for external circuitry and connectors etc. I always found it very convenient that development and target system are more or less identical, at least from the soft- ware point of view. I ported Linux to those modules (including the latest 2.2.13 kernel), and I have sent my patches to Dan Malek; I hope they will show up in one of the next "standard" embedded kernels. I'm going to continue supporting these modules, both for new CPU configurations and for new options (like FLASH filesystem). Feel free to contact me if this looks like an interesting option to you. Hope this helps, Wolfgang Denk -- Software Engineering: Embedded and Realtime Systems, Embedded Linux Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87 Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88 Email: wd@denx.de Defaults are wonderful, just like fire. - Larry Wall in <1996Mar6.004121.27890@netlabs.com> ** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/