RE: New project...PCI based servo control board

["Craig Edwards" <cedwards-at-ceinetworks.com>]

Thanks Paul, yet another interesting site.  I like PC104, but really the
processor cards are quite a bit more expensive than standard
motherboard/processor combos.  But it's great for small embedded apps, as
being ISA based it's easy to build add-on cards for.  PC104/plus adds the
PCI bus, but again the processor boards are quite a more $$$

The original catalyst for this project (from my perspective) was the
availability of low cost (under $100) small form factor motherboard /CPU
combos, which have only PCI slots for expansion.  I'm sure others have
different rational/needs, which is what makes forums like this so valuable.

Hm... Now maybe doing a PCI to ISA bridge card would be interesting, with
PC104 form factor cards serving as board #2?  More brain food to digest..:)

-Craig  

-----Original Message-----
From: emc-at-nist.gov [emc-at-nist.gov] On Behalf Of Paul
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 10:35 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: New project...PCI based servo control board




hi Craig

Whilst it doesn't have the low pin count, the PC104 bus will allow the use
of 
a wide range of alternative IO modules. An added bonus is the format will 
*just* fit in to the allowable board size for Eagle-lite.

With a little care, the design of the PCI card may also appeal to the guys 
over at www.freeio.org.

Regards, Paul.



On Saturday 29 March 2003 2:50 am, Craig Edwards wrote:
> One closing thought on board #2, I'd like to consider a SIMPLE bus 
> expander be included on it, the rational being that connectors / 
> cables / FPGA pins are costly and we don't want to burden simple 
> machine applications with functionality they won't use.... while at 
> the same time there are applications that could use a lot of discrete 
> I/O.

-- 

"To err is human...to really f*** things up requires the root password."
>From a collection of quotes at http://www.indigo.org/quotes.html