Products

Embedded Systems

Development board has flash-disk interface. Based on a 386SX CPU, this single PC/AT passive-backplane embedded controller board provides an interface connector for SanDisk CompactFlash memory modules. You can use the SBX/386 as a stand-alone motherboard or in a passive backplane. In addition to the PC/104 and ISA buses, the board offers an RS-232C serial interface, bidirectional parallel port, keyboard port, and connections to IDE and floppy drives. The board's 30-pin sockets accommodate as much as 16 Mbytes of RAM. The SBX/386 costs $421, including embedded ROM-DOS (100). ZF Microsystems Inc, Palo Alto, CA. (415) 965-3800.

Board allows low-cost DSP development. Used as a stand-alone development system or embedded directly into products through its I/O headers, the C2xx board provides a low-cost development solution for the TMS320C203 DSP. The system includes on-board SRAM, flash memory, 16-bit data converters, RS-232C serial interfaces, and a 5V power supply. It also comes with a DOS-based assembler, linker, and debugger, as well as Go DSP's Code Explorer. The C2xx development system costs $149. Wyle Electronics, Irvine, CA. (714) 753-9953.

Rack-mount workstation employs dual Pentium Pros. The VMIPCI-8060 workstation, equipped with dual Pentium-Pro processors running at 150 or 200 MHz, offers both PCI- and ISA-bus expansion housed in two EIA standard 19-in. rack-mount chassis. Built for demanding compute-intensive applications under Windows NT, the VMIPCI-8060 harnesses a symmetrical multiprocessing architecture and a GUI to control virtually any system. You can expand on-board 16-Mbyte DRAM to 256 Mbytes. You can select a system disk with expansion for a second 3.5-in. internal drive to as high as 4-Gbytes. Windows or Windows NT is preinstalled on the system disk. Prices start at $8304. VME Microsystems International Corp, Huntsville, AL. (205) 880-0444.

ISA-bus alarm card monitors system's vital signs. Based on the ISA-bus PC/AT form factor, the System Sentinel monitors the activity of as many as two CPUs, four power supplies, and three fans, as well as backplane voltage. The board also handles minor, major, and critical alarm conditions using four hard-contact relays, an audible buzzer, and battery backup. The System Sentinel communicates status and accepts commands via the ISA backplane, an RS-232C port, or an LED display panel with switches. The board costs $750. I-Bus division of Maxwell Laboratories, San Diego, CA. (619) 974-8400.

PC Linux operating system installs without tinkering. Release 4.0 of the Linux Pro operating system is easy to install and provides a stable production environment for developers. All components are preconfigured to run once installed. Linux Pro 4.0 installs directly from CD on most systems without the need for boot floppies. The operating system also includes PCMCIA support for notebook computers and emulations for DOS, SCO Unix, and UnixWare. A boot manager allows Linux to reside on the same machine as other operating systems. The Linux Pro 4.0 six-CD set costs $49. WorkGroup Solutions Inc, Aurora, CO. (303) 699-7470.

Passive-backplane industrial PC proves fault-tolerant. The FTI 1400HS industrial PC prevents data loss and system malfunctions caused by the failure of hard drives, power supplies, or fans. The system is configured with dual load-sharing power supplies and dual RAID 1 hard drives, all of which are hot-swappable. Based on an 80486 or Pentium SBC, the FTI 1400HS offers a passive backplane with four PCI-bus and nine ISA-bus expansion slots and a video controller with 1 Mbyte of RAM. With a 100-MHz Pentium, 16 Mbytes of DRAM, dual 300W supplies, and dual 1-Gbyte hard drives, the system costs $5195. Nortech Engineering Inc, East Walpole, MA. (508) 668-3490.

Industrial CPU board offers PCI-based VGA acceleration. Powered by a Pentium P54C, Pentium P55C, or 6x86 processor at clock speeds of as high as 200 MHz, the AX8255 industrial PCI/ISA bus SBC delivers VGA acceleration under Windows. The board, which also incorporates Intel's Triton II chip set, comes with 1 Mbyte of video RAM, 256 kbytes of SRAM, Award PnP BIOS, flash ROM with VGA BIOS, enhanced IDE interface, serial and parallel ports, and a 16-level watchdog timer. OEM pricing starts at $650 (small quantity). Axiom Technology Inc, Chino, CA. (909) 464-1881.

Emulator targets 8051 embedded systems. The USP-51A in-circuit emulator works with both Intel and Dallas Semiconductor 8051 series microcontrollers. Used in combination with the POD-320, the USP-51A transparently emulates the Dallas 80C320 and 80C323 microcontrollers at clock speeds as high as 33 MHz. In addition to complex breakpoint logic, the unit comes with a 32k sample-deep, 80-bit-wide real-time trace buffer with time stamping and a 128-kbyte RAM. It works with the Windows-based Embedded Systems Development Studio (ESDS-51) or with DOS-based interface software (EMU-51). Prices start at $5295 for the EMU-51A and $895 for the POD-320. Signum Systems, Moorpark, CA. (805) 523-9774.

Code generator teams with parallel-processing kernel. Combining the graphical multiprocessor-development capabilities of BetterState with the multitasking and multiprocessing facilities of Parallel-C, this version of the BetterState code generator simplifies DSP applications development. BetterState for Parallel-C covers the entire software development cycle, including graphical design, code generation, and visual verification. The Parallel-C real-time microkernel handles multitasking, timer queues, and hardware interrupts. BetterState costs $1495 for the Pro version and $795 for the Lite version. Co-Active Concepts Ltd, Ofakim, Israel. +972-7-961434.

Smx OS gains C++ library and graphics support. MetaWindow, a graphics tool kit from Metagraphics, and the Zinc Application Framework, a C++ library and visual development tool from Zinc Software, now work with the smx OS. Both packages support real and 16/32-bit protected modes for Borland C/C++ and Microsoft Visual C/C++. MicroDigital is shipping smxKey (a modification of Zinc's DOS key) with the Zinc engine. Also required are MetaWindow and smx++, the interface to smx. MetaWindows costs $2000, plus $299 to $499/seat. Zinc costs $7000 to $9000, plus $998/seat, and includes smx and smx++. Micro Digital Inc, Cypress, CA. (714) 373-6862.

486DX4 CPU board connects to flat-panel displays. This ISA-bus SBC, based on a 486DX4 processor running at speeds as high as 100 MHz, offers a low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) flat-panel interface. LVDS lowers EMI and RFI, transmits video signals as far as 30 ft without degradation, and multiplexes color data signals. The CPU-486 board also provides a range of memory options, four communications ports, an Ethernet 10BaseT interface, IDE hard-drive and floppy interfaces, a printer port, and keyboard and speaker connections. Prices start at $1995. Computer Dynamics, Greenville, SC. (864) 627-8800.