I checked out the various ITX cards, and they all have one flaw, video on board, and sometimes no parallel port, or way to put a 'bus' on them. Video, ethernet, parallel or other interface on-board makes for a non-optimum selection IMHO. Small size is nice, but being able to swap out a board with something off the shelf is important to non-hobby shops.
But the ITX boards are fascinating. As you go from the larger to the smaller, their price goes up quickly, from what I have seen. Erik Christiansen wrote: > On Sat, Nov 22, 2008 at 07:15:04PM -0800, Kirk Wallace wrote: > >> My two cents. I'd like to see what could be done with just a CPU, RAM, >> Ethernet and GPIO, doing just the real time stuff. Maybe with four >> channels of signals for BLDC motors. One problem though is that for a >> board like this, you can get a whole PC for less money. Too bad cheap >> wifi routers don't have lots of GPIO. Making 200,000 EMC2 motion boards >> _would_ bring the unit cost down. >> > > +1 > > For some time now, I've been checking each LinuxDevices newsletter for > potentially suitable new mini-ITX cards. I've been looking for RS485 > too, because that'd be great for intra-machine communication, if > satellite microcontollers are ever added, e.g. for a tool changer. (The > noise immunity of balanced line, and immunity to significant DC offset, > are both invaluable in the machine environment. It's also more real-time > than the buffered USB appears to be.) > > Fanless would be best, perhaps, so the enclosure could be sealed. > > Even if "just the real time stuff" is sufficiently modular to be run on > an SBC, it would be a lot of work to port e.g. eCos as underlying RTOS. > (I've only ever done that once, and am glad I was paid for it. ;-) > > Still, having a reference "EMC2 RT Platform" would eliminate parport > and other hardware compatibility worries. In time. But planning is the > first step. > > Erik > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
