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Single-Chip NIC Solutions?

Posted by Cliff on from the invoking-the0renaissance-of-hardware dept.

scdeimos asks: "I started out working life as an electrical engineer, but subsequently moved into software development due to the lack of 'interesting' design jobs in the EE industry...one manufactory/power plant control system is much like another. Nowadays I find myself heading back to electronics as the field becomes more and more interesting with PIC?s and STAMP?s that are more powerful than many desktop systems were just a few years ago. Companies like Future Technology Devices International make useful single-chip USB solutions that allow your hack to appear as a serial port (FT232BM) or a parallel port (FT245BM) connected to your favourite CPU for device intelligence. This lets you build useful test equipment like computer-controlled voltmeters, logic analyzers and CRO?s for not much outlay.Which brings me to my question, which centers around NIC solutions. What are people using out there today for providing single-chip NIC connectivity? What benefits do you feel your chip preference has over the competition? Do any have a sockets (TCP/UDP) implementation built-in, or do you still have to write your own protocol libraries in the support CPU?"

4 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. TINI from Dallas Semi by TwoStep · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have been playing with TINI from Dallas Semiconductor. It runs java code, and supports a pretty good subset of the full Java 1.4 spec. It costs around $100 to get started with it.

    Twostep

    --
    There are 10 different types of people in this world... those who understand binary, and those who don't.
    1. Re:TINI from Dallas Semi by psyconaut · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you like TINI, you'll love SNAP more:

      http://www.imsys.se/snap

      Much more processing power, more RAM, more Flash memory, 100Mbit Ethernet onboard, 1-wire, CAN, I2C, SPI, much better CPU bus than the TINI (no CMOS load issues), etc. etc. And it's ~US$130 IIRC.

      -psy

  2. Im not sure if this is what you want by jjshoe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But i looked at this solution before

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    -- botsex is {grep;touch;strip;unzip;head;mount} /dev/girl -t {wet;fsck;fsck;yes;yes;yes;umount} {/de
  3. Dallas microcontroller by cybermace5 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have heard good things about the Dallas DS80C400 controller. It's an 8051 core which is great 'cuz you can take advantage of the huge 8051 experience base out there, it's got 10/100 Ethernet with TCP/IP, DHCP, even IPv4 and IPv6 . It has a direct memory access mode which makes it really nice for moving good-sized chunks of data without bottlenecking in a microcontroller's tiny RAM area.

    So you don't get 100mbps speeds, more like 5mbps. But for an all-in-one microcontroller, it's ripe for some really neat little devices. You! Give your toaster, microwave, breadmaker, washing machine, garbage disposal, TV, stereo system, and coffee maker IP addresses. Now!

    Hit a secret little button, and the stereo switches to slow music, the lights dim, annoying rackety appliances shut down, the TV turns off, and the warm smell of toasting cinnamon-rasin bread fills the room...wait, that was for breakfast. Oh well.

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    ...