Hardware

Hardware Designs

The active I/O boards listed below are based on fully programmable Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs) which may be reprogrammed to change their functionality. Programming and reprogramming may be performed at any time, without removing the integrated circuit from the board, by using a parallel-port programming adapter and software available from Lattice Semiconductor. Each design is achieved using a two-sided circuit board, which minimizes costs.

DonutTM

The Donut Board is designed to be an easily expandable board on which to breadboard USB interfaces, in order to ease the development of USB-based devices. The Donut board is based on the Freescale (formerly Motorola) MC68HC908JB8 microcontroller, which has an integrated USB interface, and into which custom built firmware can be downloaded in order to customize the USB interface to user needs. GNU/Linux-based software to control the USB interface from the PC end of the USB link is also under development, based on the great articles by Greg Kroah-Hartman, published during 2004 in Linux Journal.

GritsTM

Fully programmable PC/104 bus I/O board, using surface mount parts. The Grits design is based on the Lattice ispLSI2096A-80LQ128 CPLD, in a 128 pin Plastic Quad Flat Pack (PQFP). There is only one integrated circuit on the board. The Grits design builds on the versatility of the Cornbread board, and adds interrupt routing as well. The PC/104 format was chosen for this board in order to support our controller designs in this format.

JuiceTM

Cross-Extender between the ISA bus and the PC/104 bus, to allow testing of PC/104 bus boards in a conventional PC. This is an entirely passive board, with no components other than the connectors required. The Juice board is used by plugging it into a PC, and then plugging the PC/104 board into the Juice board. Because the Juice board has the full pin and socket connector, the PC/104 board or boards under test may be plugged into either the front or back of the Juice Board.

FlapjackTM

Fully programmable ISA bus I/O board, using only through-hole parts. The Flapjack design is based on the Lattice ispLSI1032E-70LJ CPLD, in a socketed 84-pin PLCC package. There is only one integrated circuit on the board. This design is the minimum complexity design, because of the limited number of pins available in the socketable PLCC package.

CornbreadTM

Fully programmable ISA bus I/O board, using surface mount parts. The Cornbread design is based on the Lattice ispLSI2096A-80LQ128 CPLD, in a 128 pin Plastic Quad Flat Pack (PQFP). There is only one integrated circuit on the board. The Cornbread design is very versatile, and allows many ways to utilize it for I/O functions.

BiscuitTM

NOTE: The Toast board design has been deprecated. No further development of this design is anticipated. This board name is now reserved for an upcoming USB-port programmable I/O board design.

ToastTM

NOTE: The Toast board design has been deprecated. No further development of this design is anticipated. Embedded control board utiliing the Motorola MFC5307 ColdFire Processor. An expansion port with a PC/104 format interface is provided. The board includes SDRAM, flash memory, ethernet controller, areal time clock, and a Lattice ispLSI2128VE CPLD for fully programmable I/O.

Note: The source code for all designs shown here is released under the GNU General Public License.