Hi all,

I have been thinking of producing an hardware i/o development board for connection to the zaurus and / or a pc. This board would have the capability to connect to either machine either via the serial port or a usb port.

The main features would be:

* microcontroller based
* upto eight analogue input channels
* upto sixteen digital i/o channels
* expansion buses such as I2C and SPI for connection to external components such as EEPROMs, ADCs, DACs, RTCs, etc.
* ability to drive an LCD display
* two programmable PWM channels
* ability to update firmware on board

The applications of this board are very broad, and the exact specification are customisable to suit the needs of the end-user. A simple query based language can be used to communicate between the board and software applications such as within a C program or within Matlab.

If there is any interest in such a product please express your interests here. If anyone needs any other custom design work please send me a PM to discuss it.

regards,
Robert.

So this would work like a developer's docking station? Interesting.

Could you take inspiration from some of the PCMCIA modules out there and produce one that's in CF form?

I'd like to see the following interfaces (in no particular order of priority)

I2C for I/O expansion
1-wire for interesting devices
A/D two channel low noise (oscilloscope, audio capture)
fast A/D (software radio)
D/A two channel low noise
S/PDIF audio I/O
Canbus for automotive analysis
Barometric pressure
Accelerometer
Compass


I imagine much could be done with I2C and 1-wire!

No offence but shouldnt this be in the hardware/hacking it section?

ethir way it sounds good, how do you plan to connect it to the Z

Yes, I'd like something like this.

Something that connected to the Zaurus using serial/usb to do various tasks - read temperatures, control servos, etc.


Si

flash of inspiration... we need a Lego Mindstorms interface in a CF adaptor!

meanwhile...

an entire computer in a CF shell:
http://www.cdatas.com/
http://www.hacker-technology.com/145291/index.html

CF I/O cards:
http://www.hacker-technology.com/3479/index.html


none of the above are cheap!

Are you thinking of something along the lines of the make controller?

http://makezine.com/controller/

only in the sense we want a simple & cheap way of using a Zaurus as the core CPU and user interface for a general purpose I/O control system.

there's not a HUGE list on the CF org's website:

http://www.compactflash.org/guide/comm.htm


main page of CF products here:
http://www.compactflash.org/guide/guide.htm

Initially it would connect via the serial plug on the zaurus, as that's what i have to play with on my c860 - but I would intend to move it to USB. Still in the back of my mind to start on someday...

Too bad there isn't a serial plug for the C1000+

http://www.picocomputing.com/products/cards/e12lo.php

all you could want

I thought the Cxxxx had a serial plug in the back as well?

it has the slot, that interface, but i believe it is disabled... I read somewhere about someone saying "DONT PLUG ANYTHING IN THERE"

So I dont

Late

No it doesn't have the serial port. It's a service port without the serial features. It's not "disabled", it's absent..

My Bad... :-)

Late