Harsh environments suit rugged PC
By Warren Webb -- EDN, April 29, 2004
A new PC/104 single-board computer from Octagon Systems delivers low-cost, low-power, Pentium II performance for transportation, automation, point-of-sale, data acquisition, and other high-reliability or harsh-environment applications. The 2060 operates from –40 to +85°C and features standard PC I/O. In addition, the board has two serial ports, two USB ports, digital I/O, onboard video, and a CompactFlash socket for bootable and removable memory to 2 Gbytes (Picture).
The CompactFlash requires no drivers and is available with board support packages for popular operating systems. To minimize downtime and service calls, the 2060 includes built-in diagnostics that you can run in the field without test equipment. The card also has overvoltage and reverse-voltage protection and a watchdog timer that is programmable from 2 msec to 120 sec. Software board-support packages are available for Linux 2.6, QNX, and DOS. The 2060 sells for $374 (fewer than 100) and is available from stock.
Octagon Systems Corp, 1-303-412-2011, www.octagonsystems.com.
