Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module

[aperez]

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=TWR-MCF5225X



Uses standard PCIe 16x card-edge connectors, which are cheap and plentiful. One of the two is a so-called Dummy card-edge which is almost A year ago (Jan 22, 09) Freescale launched the new MCF5225x line, along with their MQX RTOS, which they provide for free and which runs atop a variety of lower-end V2/V3 ColdFire cores. More info at http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/homepage.jsp?code=MQX_HOME

Given this new $49, pre-populated module, it would be interesting to see if it could be used as a building block for development of an Ethernet/USB card for the A500. Pricing on the Subway is still $120ish, and there is still no functional Ethernet solution for the A500, which makes me sad. The MCF5225x also includes full-speed USB 2.0 host support.

The MCF52256 and 52255 cost less than $8 in single quantities, and are therefore well-suited to low-quantity runs and experimentation.

The MCF5225x itself comes clocked at either 66 or 80MHz, and is available in LQFP100 and LQFP144 form factors, which are easily proto-solderable. (in addition to MAPBGA144)

The MCF5225x's external interface is Mini-FlexBus, which is documented at http://www.eetasia.com/STATIC/PDF/200905/EEOL_2009MAY06_INTD_CTRLD_AN_01.pdf

Mini-FlexBus can address a maximum memory size of up to 1 megabyte per chip select (the spec includes two CS'es), which would be more than sufficient to do DMA with the 68K CPUs in Amigaland.

The MCF5225x Mini-FlexBus Features:
— Two user-programmable chip selects (FB_CS0 & FB_CS1). — 8- or 16-bit port size. — Multiplexed (muxed) or non-multiplexed mode (non-muxed). — 20 Address, eight Data or 20 Address/Data Signals.
— Byte-, word-, longword-, and 16-byte line-sized transfers. — Programmable wait states, address setup, and address hold times.
— Output Enable (FB_OE) and Read/Write (FB_RW) control signals. — Address Latch Enable (FB_ALE) control signal for multiplexed mode.

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MCF5225X

[alexh]

It would be interesting to see if it could be used as a building block for development of an Ethernet/USB card for the A500.

What for? There are numerous Compact Flash options and it is faster to put the card in the PC, copy files, then take it out and put in the Amiga to transfer large amounts.

Without a CPU upgrade you're not going to be able to run any meaningful live internet software, i.e. web-browser etc.

Pricing on the Subway is still $120ish, and there is still no functional Ethernet solution for the A500, which makes me sad.

Does subway not support the $5 USB->ethernet bridges? Deneb does.

The MCF52256 and 52255 cost less than $8 in single quantities, and are therefore well-suited to low-quantity runs and experimentation.

The chip at the heart of the Subway only costs $3. It is not the raw materials. It is the NRE (non recoverable expenditure, design & manufacture tooling costs)

[aperez]

What for? There are numerous Compact Flash options and it is faster to put the card in the PC, copy files, then take it out and put in the Amiga to transfer large amounts.

I agree completely that it may be faster at this time, but CF isn't going to be around forever, has inherent compatibility issues (I use it all the time), and isn't particularly speedy transfer-rate wise, due to other system limitations. Additionally, there is no cheap/fast solution for CF on the A500. Ethernet won't be going anywhere, and it opens the doors to other, more-flexible options.

Without a CPU upgrade you're not going to be able to run any meaningful live internet software, i.e. web-browser etc.

You're missing the point, which is okay, but keep in mind that web browsing isn't what I'm personally after here, nor are many others. I prefer to keep my web browsing in the 21st century, kthxbai.

Does subway not support the $5 USB->ethernet bridges? Deneb does.

It probably does, but USB full speed is only good for 1.5mbytes/sec, maximum theoretical, and one would be lucky if the effective, overall throughput were even 2/3 of that. I would prefer to see the USB stack not implemented in Amigaland, when there's a perfectly-capable 80/66MHz CPU sitting there which can do the heavy lifting.

The chip at the heart of the Subway only costs $3. It is not the raw materials. It is the NRE (non recoverable expenditure, design & manufacture tooling costs)

I never claimed it was. The point of using a premanufactured board is that they're easily obtainable, will be produced in quantities *far* greater than the Deneb and Subway will likely *ever* be, combined. What is needed is a bridgeboard which performs the necessary voltage regulation, as well as logic level buffering/transformations. The bulk of the onus rests on the backs of others, which is ideal in this particular situation.

[kolla]

I always missed ethernet on A500, and compensated by using 10base2 AmiLink floppyport net. Also the CD32 lacks ethernet (and clockport for USB etc)

Having some attached hardware do TCP/IP and just provide the amiga with bsdsocet, like UAE does,would be excellent.

[arnljot]

There are lots of embedded ethernet chips with rs323 interfaces or similar which would be much more suitable for the task than this chip on the A500.

Only reason to dabble with a coldfire would be if you wanted to implement a solution where it could also replace the m68k, but that topic has been talked to death here, and on other forums.

[amyren]

There are lots of embedded ethernet chips with rs323 interfaces or similar which would be much more suitable for the task than this chip on the A500.

Are there any known working solutions for Amiga to make use of these interfaces?
If you are awere of any software and hardware solution that can give the Amiga ethernet via serial port to connect to the internet, please let us know.

[arnljot]

I don't know one. But I for the longest time played with the notion of getting an arduino with an ethernet module connected to the amiga serial interface.

Then the next step would be to write a sana2 device wich could talk to it.

But neither my skills or time was sufficient to get the job done.

Here is some info on the Arduino:
Arduino homepage, you can program it with c/c++. And communicate with it through serial port from your computer.

Arduino Ethernet shield(1, 2), route serial talk from computer via arduino to this module...

That's where it started for me, I initially bought my Arduino to play with lcd displays and such with it. Maybe make it into a build server alarm. Blink and such when the CI server detects a broken build.

But then I saw this product:
Ethernet Micro Web Device

That's a full TCP/IP stack and small webserver which connects to a paralell port. It cannot be used with an amiga because it's an incompatible parallell port power setup.

But redesign that either for the parallell port, or serial port. Implement a sana2 device, or bedsocket library, and you're set. It's a lot of work. But you're standing on the shoulders of gigants who've come before you.

[amyren]

Another serial-to-internet device was dicussed in this thread.
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49788

That is a device that in a certain mode will act as a serial modem connected, and connects your computer to a wireless network. In theory it should work with Miami or similar on a A500.
I would like to test it, but its EUR 88,- so I wouldnt get it unless I was 100% sure it worked.
..sorry if I'm getting slightly off-topic here

[aperez]

Another serial-to-internet device was dicussed in this thread.
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49788

Yep, sexy and not cheap.

That is a device that in a certain mode will act as a serial modem connected, and connects your computer to a wireless network. In theory it should work with Miami or similar on a A500.

Pardon me for suggesting this, but that's some serious jumping to conclusions.

I would like to test it, but its EUR 88,- so I wouldnt get it unless I was 100% sure it worked. ..sorry if I'm getting slightly off-topic here

88 Euros is...insanely expensive. I want to make something people can justify the expenditure on, and which they know will work.

I've given some serious thought to how to make a serial-port-based Amiga device viable, and the conclusion I've come to is that it makes most amount of sense to handle TCP outside of the Amiga realm, especially on lower-end hardware, where the cost of packet-reassembly is computationally expensive.

Last year, Freescale introduced their Coldfire V1 microcontrollers (which are really a continuation of their old 8-bit microcontrollers, and they even have a reference design for an ethernet-to-serial device based on the most minimal version of this design, including gerber PCB layout files:



http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=RDMCF51CN128

The advantage of this approach is that they're giving you the software stack, and it's all based on free and open design. The MCU runs FreeRTOS and LWIP, and is clocked at 80MHz. The chip costs $8 in single quantities.

[Tension]

Doesnt the C64 have a "clock port" ethernet solution?

Surely it would be easier to write drivers, rather than designing an interface AND writing drivers?

Or I could be wrong on that...

[koaftder]

It's all about the software. Hardware, as much of a pain as it is to get right, is just 1 tenth of the solution in this situation. aperez seems to be looking to not re-invent the wheel as much as possible.

[Rebel-CD32]

Keep up the good work, guys. I agree it'd be best to have the external hardware handle the TCP/IP stack and have its own bsdsocket.library in RAM. AmiTCP and Miami take up quite a bit of memory, which isn't ideal for lower-end systems. A well-priced plug-in Ethernet solution for CD32s and Amigas without PCMCIA or Zorro would surely sell, there are plenty of us still with classic systems set up and in use, and a lot of people getting back into the hobby.

[kolla]

Doesnt the C64 have a "clock port" ethernet solution?

Surely it would be easier to write drivers, rather than designing an interface AND writing drivers?

This has also been discussed numerous times, the RR-net device is not really suited on the Amiga, and it's not just about software drivers.

[redrumloa]

Doesnt the C64 have a "clock port" ethernet solution?

Surely it would be easier to write drivers, rather than designing an interface AND writing drivers?

Or I could be wrong on that...

The C64/128 has the rr-net, which uses Amiga style clock port on products like the MMC Replay. I've asked Jens about the possibility of Amiga drivers and he suggested it would be a bad idea.

Shame classic Amiga don't have a low cost ethernet solution like the C64/128, the 64nic+ is stand alone and only $55.

[Tension]

The C64/128 has the rr-net, which uses Amiga style clock port on products like the MMC Replay. I've asked Jens about the possibility of Amiga drivers and he suggested it would be a bad idea.

Shame classic Amiga don't have a low cost ethernet solution like the C64/128, the 64nic+ is stand alone and only $55.

I wonder what he meant by that??  Surely the signals must be the same...  Why would it be such a bad idea??

It really is a shame that the C64 has this nifty device, and we don't. Even though we were the original clock-port-utilizing-out-of-the-box-blue-sky-thinkers.