Rob Steinmetz wrote:
Lee Cremeans wrote:Now that it's 2004 and you can get Ethernet parts for cheap, I'd like to try. I don't think I could get the cost per board down to $15, but considering how simple the design I'm pondering is, it could easily be cheaper than the LANceGS.I believe you're right, it could be cheaper. I looked at doing it a while ago and never followed through due to the lack of software.
The CS8900 itself is ~$7/qty 1 from Arrow, so a run of 10 should be quite cheap once I do the math. The biggest expense will almost certainly be the PCBs; even with PCB123's pricing, they're still kinda steep.
The one thing that bugs me is the US$70/qty 1 cost of the requiredCS8900 module.I wonder how quickly it would get cheaper say for 10 quantity or 50 or more? Alternatively there are a lot of other embedded ethernet devices out there, some are cheaper than $70 ea.
For this particular module, I'm not sure of the pricing structure, though they do say they offer volume discounts; I should write the supplier and see. They're in Norway, but the shipping costs are quite reasonable (410 for the equivalent of Priority Mail). Using the module would make the board even simpler (basically the same schematic as the original TFE, just with the wiring changed to support Apple II addressing).
That said, I do also wonder what the cost differential in using the board vs. integrating the CS8900 directly onto my design would be. (I'm kinda new at this; I've read plenty of schematics and assembly diagrams for work, but I've not yet designed something all by myself.) They give a schematic on their site so you can assemble your own Embedded Ethernet board; I may use that as a starting point to integrating the 8900 directly onto my board.
Going from this, I should have a first draft of the II port in a couple of days, once I get PCB123 figured out (it's a bit funky at the moment). I'll post here again with a location once I have something.That sounds great. Someone will have to develop (or port) some software to use it. That was always the problem. A board is no good without software and the software is no good without the hardware.
With a Contiki driver already written and working on the C=64 (I tried it here in VICE and it worked), and with source available for that, it wouldn't be hard to write a Marinetti driver for it. I wonder what tools you need to develop for Marinetti...something tells me cc65 won't cut it, but we'll see.
-lee