- Thu May 11, 2006 7:58 pm
#13408
Hi,
I want to try and build my own PDA device for fun. I'm having a little trouble selecting an SOC to get started though.
Here are some of the onchip features I'm looking for :
- 100Mhz (preferably higher clock and bus speeds).
- USB 2.0 client (perhaps even a USB controller ?)
- LCD controller (upto VGA, higher resolution ofcourse would be nicer, or an alternative for an easy to implement LCD controller off chip)
- External memory access (RAM, External bootable Flash (CF/SD etc)
- SCI/SPI/I2C and a bunch of GPIO pins.
- key board controller (or an easy way to implement off chip)
- Vendor : I've worked with 8/16 bit freescale parts, but I'm open to any widely available platforms.(hope to use GNU tools so not tied to any dev environments)
General features:
- PCB - something that I can fit into a 4 layer board using eagle. Also I'll be making a one off piece so nothing too fancy in terms of <5mil traces etc.
- Assembly : I can solder QFN's on a toaster oven, havn't tried BGA's yet, wouldn't mind but would prefer QFN's or larger.
- Battery : Not too worried about that right now, hope to have a simple switching regulator on board for both wall transformers or any old batteries.
- Over all costs : Lets just say I'm not terribly averse to getting samples of some of the major IC's. (but its not too much of a big deal to have to buy it either) - Naturally lower is better.
- LCD : This ofcourse might be the killer in terms of cost, but any opinions on OLED's or other touch screen LCD's etc are most welcome.
Software :
- I definately want to run one of the open embedded RT linuxes on this device, and hopefully be able to use some of the UI's out there for embedded devices. So I'm not terribly averse to picking a hardware platform that already has linux ports and an active community around it.
Like I said this is aimed at being a learning experience, the key elements I want to take most out of the process are :
- designing a small packed board.
- greater familiarity with a 32 bit SOC and its features.
- embedded Linux development.
- Fun fun fun.
Any thoughts/ideas/comments, or links to projects on the net already doing something like this...
Thanks,
Kirit
P.S I will be posting this to a couple of other forums on the net so if you happen to see it on another forum please don't mind to much.
I want to try and build my own PDA device for fun. I'm having a little trouble selecting an SOC to get started though.
Here are some of the onchip features I'm looking for :
- 100Mhz (preferably higher clock and bus speeds).
- USB 2.0 client (perhaps even a USB controller ?)
- LCD controller (upto VGA, higher resolution ofcourse would be nicer, or an alternative for an easy to implement LCD controller off chip)
- External memory access (RAM, External bootable Flash (CF/SD etc)
- SCI/SPI/I2C and a bunch of GPIO pins.
- key board controller (or an easy way to implement off chip)
- Vendor : I've worked with 8/16 bit freescale parts, but I'm open to any widely available platforms.(hope to use GNU tools so not tied to any dev environments)
General features:
- PCB - something that I can fit into a 4 layer board using eagle. Also I'll be making a one off piece so nothing too fancy in terms of <5mil traces etc.
- Assembly : I can solder QFN's on a toaster oven, havn't tried BGA's yet, wouldn't mind but would prefer QFN's or larger.
- Battery : Not too worried about that right now, hope to have a simple switching regulator on board for both wall transformers or any old batteries.
- Over all costs : Lets just say I'm not terribly averse to getting samples of some of the major IC's. (but its not too much of a big deal to have to buy it either) - Naturally lower is better.
- LCD : This ofcourse might be the killer in terms of cost, but any opinions on OLED's or other touch screen LCD's etc are most welcome.
Software :
- I definately want to run one of the open embedded RT linuxes on this device, and hopefully be able to use some of the UI's out there for embedded devices. So I'm not terribly averse to picking a hardware platform that already has linux ports and an active community around it.
Like I said this is aimed at being a learning experience, the key elements I want to take most out of the process are :
- designing a small packed board.
- greater familiarity with a 32 bit SOC and its features.
- embedded Linux development.
- Fun fun fun.
Any thoughts/ideas/comments, or links to projects on the net already doing something like this...
Thanks,
Kirit
P.S I will be posting this to a couple of other forums on the net so if you happen to see it on another forum please don't mind to much.