Freescale introduces a $49 MCF5225x coldfire module

[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.

[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.