Date   : Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:14:18 +0200
From   : "Eelco Huininga" <eelco@...>
Subject: Re: Econet-Ethernet bridge

I think it's a bad idea to go for an ISA bus. Go for the embedded ethernet
chips. If the chip becomes unavailable, just redesign the hardware and
rewrite the software. Adapting existing hardware and software for new chips
is easier than designing an ISA interface and finding ISA cards, IMHO.

Eelco
 

> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Majordomo List Manager [mailto:majordomo@...] Namens Rob
> Verzonden: dinsdag 26 juli 2005 18:55
> Aan: bbc-micro@...
> Onderwerp: RE: [BBC-Micro] RE: Econet-Ethernet bridge
> 
> At 17:34 26/07/2005, Phil Blundell wrote:
> 
> >On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 16:21 +0000, Jules Richardson wrote:
> > > How obtainable is the chip likely to be in three years, 
> or ten, when
> > > someone might want to build one of these?
> >
> >I imagine it will still be around in three years.  In ten, who knows,
> >but we can cross that bridge easily enough when we come to it.  Its
> >interface is basically standard ISA, so it would be pretty trivial to
> >make a variant of the PCB that strips off the CS8900 chip 
> and replaces
> >it with another part, or even an ISA card socket.
> 
> How about, design the PCB with a row of holes to accommodate 
> an ISA socket, 
> and route the relevant signals past this?  If the ethernet 
> chip becomes 
> unavailable, leave it off and install ISA socket instead?  
> Mind you, it's 
> getting hard to find ISA NICs nowadays, never mind in 10 
> years time..  I 
> struggled when kitting out my TiVo.. (The first ethernet 
> adapter board for 
> it used an ISA socket & you supplied the NIC.  Second type 
> has a 10/100 
> chip onboard, and cost me slightly less...)
> 
> As long as the design and PCB is well documented, and 
> available in digital 
> form, surely in umpety years time when the current chips are have 
> transformed into unobtanium, it can just be edited to 
> accommodate the new ones?
> 
> 
> Rob
> 
> 
> 
>