Date   : Sun, 24 Jul 2005 16:52:09 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: ARM copros, speech cartridges, real time clocks,

On Sun, 2005-07-24 at 13:52 +0100, Sprow wrote:
>    I've no idea where to start writing Windows/Linux network or USB drivers.

Well there are Econet drivers in the Linux kernel already - no
experience of the USB side of things but presumably there are plenty of
existing USB-network type of interfaces which have free driver code on
which to base things.

No clue about the Windows world.

>  - something along the lines of an ISA Ecolink
>    just slap MiniB on a PCI card with a 68B54 and NFS. Finished.
>    Again, I've no idea where to start writing Windows/Linux network or PCI
>    drivers.

I remember looking at some of the Ethernet driver code a few years ago;
it's actually not *that* bad. But certainly back in the days of ISA,
prototyping boards were darn expensive - I bet it's the same for PCI.
Some external interface is likely to to be a lot cheaper to make by
hobbyists.

(unless the intention of whoever comes up with something is to market
the finished product rather than making schematics available, at which
point it probably makes little difference)

>  - an ethernet interface for the beeb
>    obviously never going to make the full 10/100/1000Mbps rate the network
>    can handle, but no reason why it couldn't be built. Not sure where best
>    to hang it, 1MHz bus maybe? Perhaps sitting in the 68B54 socket (though
>    this would mean making a different one for the Master). Might also
>    consider a serial to ethernet module, this would hang off the RS423 port.
>    Software much more interesting, but a lot of it to write (protocol stacks
>    and filing systems)

Parallel to Econet on the PC side might be viable too - just depends on
the port speed. 

Some sort of external bridge seems a little concerning to me, because
it'll need its own CPU and debugging. Sounds like a lot of added
complexity (when you could just get a 486 PC running Linux with an
Ethernet card in and hang an Econet interface from that if a bridge was
needed - the only investment then is in the Econet hardware and
associated driver)

cheers

Jules