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Author Topic: Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module  (Read 6095 times)

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Offline aperezTopic starter

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Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module
« on: January 11, 2010, 05:52:44 AM »
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
« Last Edit: January 11, 2010, 06:49:00 AM by aperez »
 

Offline aperezTopic starter

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Re: Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2010, 07:22:34 AM »
Quote from: alexh;537649
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.

Quote from: alexh;537649
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.

Quote from: alexh;537649
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.

Quote from: alexh;537649
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.
 

Offline aperezTopic starter

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Re: Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2010, 01:18:50 AM »
Quote from: amyren;537829
Another serial-to-internet device was dicussed in this thread.
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49788

Yep, sexy and not cheap.

Quote from: amyren;537829
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.

Quote from: amyren;537829
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.
 

Offline aperezTopic starter

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Re: Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2010, 10:34:02 PM »
Quote from: JimS;539422
I always thought the smartest approach to expanding the classic hardware was not to monkey around trying to interface a bus (PCI) that's now obsolete. Instead, take advantage of the modules available for the embedded controller market, and host them on a Zorro card that's basicaly just a glorified clock port. You can get a module for ethernet that has it's own cpu to run the included TCP/IP stack. Same for USB host - even with mp3 playback. What else do you want to use on the classic hardware? Graphics? OK, can you get the specs on the graphics card you want to use? I'd rather try rolling my own in an FPGA, though I think that would be better interfaced to the CPU.


Jim,

It's almost as though you didn't bother to read the thread, as that's exactly what I'm going to be doing. That said, the assertion that PCI is "dead" is beyond ridiculous. PCI has certainly evolved, but PCIe is merely a serialized version of the original PCI, with lanes globbed together for additional bandwidth when needed.
 

Offline aperezTopic starter

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Re: Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2010, 11:09:56 PM »
Kolla,

To me, this falls into the "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" category.