4 Nov
2007
4 Nov
'07
12:33 p.m.
David Griffith wrote:
[snip description]
How hard would it be to create something like this?
How much would it
cost?
CPU: I'd use an ARM or Coldfire CPU - a Philips LPC2000 in External Memory
mode, or a Freescale MCF5307. Give it a bit of external RAM and Flash, and a
CPLD to handle VGA signal generation and supply the glue. Add some keyboard
input logic to said CPLD and flash it with U-Boot and Linux. Teach Linux how
to control the VGA (basically write a framebuffer driver) and shoehorn a
terminal emulator onto it. Bolt on an EEPROM or cheap RTC chip for
configuration storage. Job done.
Total parts cost: About ?50 tops, excluding PCB and case. Probably about ?100
total.
Development time: Most of the OS is done already - the framebuffer driver
would be the hard part. I haven't seen much documentation on fbdev/fbcon.
Is it worth it? Not really, IMO.
What would I do? Get a cheap laptop. A 486SX or something. Put Linux on the
hard drive (or shove a cheap CompactFlash card and adapter in there). Voila,
instant portable terminal.
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