News and New Products

$49 controller module enables embedded GUI

By Warren Webb -- EDN, 10/16/2003

Princeton Technology Group recently unveiled the Thunderbolt GC, an FPGA-based graphics processor board that drives most LCDs (Picture). Using a preprogrammed instruction set, the module accepts simple serial or parallel commands from a microcontroller and produces bit maps, text, and graphics on a color TFT (thin-film-transistor) display at resolution as fine as VGA.

The Thunderbolt GC combines a 32-bit, 75-MHz RISC processor and a display controller within the onboard FPGA. The unit also comes with 32 Mbytes of SDRAM and 4 Mbytes of flash, all on a board which measures only 2.5×1.75 in. The Thunderbolt GC sells for $49 (10,000).

Princeton Technology Group, 1-609-434-1066, www.ptgroupinc.com.