Chuck Guzis wrote:
If you're thinking about a Catweasel-type external
box, then I'd put
lots of memory (10 MB or more)
I don't think you necessarily need anything like that much; I remember Dave
Dunfield and I discussing this a while back and it worked out at something
like a couple of hundred KB I'm sure.
and some programmable intelligence in
it (so the "nuts and bolts" isn't subject to OS platform-related
issues).
Oh, absolutely. I was wondering about making the bulk of device's firmware
downloadable from the attached computer to be honest, just so things can be as
flexible as possible.
Maybe interface with something dirt-common, like
RS-232C.
Of course, this would push the price of a basic unit up pretty high.
I don't know, what's a couple of hundred KB of memory, a CPU (say a Z80 for
sake of argument), a bit of ROM, and a serial interface chip, plus a bit of
glue logic?
Actually, some of the PIC micros have RS232 ability (with the addition of line
drivers) I believe and might kill two birds with one stone. Not sure what the
cost of RAM would be - cheap if DRAM I suppose, but then there's the
complexity of refreshing... SRAM would make life really easy.
P.S. This is my first message using a new email
client--Pegasus.
I feel honoured, or something ;)
cheers
Jules