Microchip Announces World's Smallest Ethernet Controller with MAC and PHY

Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin 10Base-T
Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A free TCP/IP stack is
also available for PIC microcontrollers.

http://microcontroller.com/news/microchip_ethernet.asp

-Bill Giovino
 Executive Editor
 http://Microcontroller.com

"Bill Giovino" <editor@nospam-microcontroller.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:nIudnSOshZRVLPPfRVn-1w@comcast.com...
> Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin 10Base-T
> Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A

To bad this is only a 10 base device, even if the actual data through-put is 
much lower then 10 kbit, for compatibility with other devices on the net a 
base 100 controler would be desireable.

/Roland

On 2005-04-27, Roland Zitzke <FODVRUTMSTJC@spammotel.com> wrote:

>> Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin 10Base-T
>> Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A
>
> To bad this is only a 10 base device, even if the actual data
> through-put is much lower then 10 kbit, for compatibility with
> other devices on the net a base 100 controler would be
> desireable.

Why do you say that?  I use networks with a mixture of 100bT
and 10bT devices all the time.  There is not problem with
"compatibility".  Unless you actually need the bandwidth, the
supposed advantage of 100bT over 10bT is pure marketing
bullshit.

I applaud Microchip for make a sound engineering decision
rather than wasting power and silicon on a usless feature.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  Either CONFESS now or
                                  at               we go to "PEOPLE'S COURT"!!
                               visi.com            

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 14:31:14 +0000, Grant Edwards wrote:

> On 2005-04-27, Roland Zitzke <FODVRUTMSTJC@spammotel.com> wrote:
> 
>>> Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin 10Base-T
>>> Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A
>>
>> To bad this is only a 10 base device, even if the actual data
>> through-put is much lower then 10 kbit, for compatibility with
>> other devices on the net a base 100 controler would be
>> desireable.
> 
> Why do you say that?  I use networks with a mixture of 100bT
> and 10bT devices all the time.  There is not problem with
> "compatibility".  Unless you actually need the bandwidth, the
> supposed advantage of 100bT over 10bT is pure marketing
> bullshit.
> 

That's almost true, but not quite.  As long as you have switches on your
network, then there is no problem mixing 10bT and 100bT - packets going
from a 100bT PC to a 10bT ENC28J60 will travel at 100 Mb to the switch,
then 10 Mb to the ENC, and vice versa on return.  However, if you have
hubs rather than switches, a single 10bT device on the network will hold
the entire (hubbed) network at 10bT.  Of course, few networks still use
hubs rather than switches, so it's not much of a problem, and I agree it
would be a big waste to add 100bT support to the chip.

> I applaud Microchip for make a sound engineering decision
> rather than wasting power and silicon on a usless feature.

Grant Edwards wrote:
> Unless you actually need the bandwidth, the
> supposed advantage of 100bT over 10bT is pure marketing
> bullshit.

Right.

Unfortunately, as suits rule the purchasing departments,
they will pick a 100bT product from competitor A over
an otherwise superior 10bT product from competitor B.

It sucks...

Greetings,
  Olav

Bill Giovino wrote:
> Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin 10Base-T
> Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A free TCP/IP
stack is
> also available for PIC microcontrollers.

Did anyone else notice the power consumption? 250ma at 3.3 volts!! A
CS8900A manages to work at around 50ma at 3.3 volts. What is Microchip
doing with all that extra power? Even 100base-T controllers use less
than 250ma.

bob@certsoft.com wrote:

> Bill Giovino wrote:
> 
>>Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin 10Base-T
>>Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A free TCP/IP
> 
> stack is
> 
>>also available for PIC microcontrollers.
> 
> 
> Did anyone else notice the power consumption? 250ma at 3.3 volts!! A
> CS8900A manages to work at around 50ma at 3.3 volts. What is Microchip
> doing with all that extra power? Even 100base-T controllers use less
> than 250ma.

Ouch.  Good catch.

bob@certsoft.com wrote:
> Bill Giovino wrote:
> 
>> Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin
>> 10Base-T Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A
>> free TCP/IP stack is also available for PIC microcontrollers.
> 
> Did anyone else notice the power consumption? 250ma at 3.3 volts!!
> A CS8900A manages to work at around 50ma at 3.3 volts. What is
> Microchip doing with all that extra power? Even 100base-T
> controllers use less than 250ma.

I suspect a misprint somewhere.  If that is in anything smaller
than a DIP package it would at least need heat sinks to avoid
desoldering itself.

-- 
"If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use
 the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article.  Click on 
 "show options" at the top of the article, then click on the 
 "Reply" at the bottom of the article headers." - Keith Thompson

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 03:58:11 GMT, the renowned CBFalconer
<cbfalconer@yahoo.com> wrote:

>bob@certsoft.com wrote:
>> Bill Giovino wrote:
>> 
>>> Microchip Technology has introduced the ENC28J60, a 28-pin
>>> 10Base-T Stand-Alone Ethernet controller with SPI interface. A
>>> free TCP/IP stack is also available for PIC microcontrollers.
>> 
>> Did anyone else notice the power consumption? 250ma at 3.3 volts!!
>> A CS8900A manages to work at around 50ma at 3.3 volts. What is
>> Microchip doing with all that extra power? Even 100base-T
>> controllers use less than 250ma.
>
>I suspect a misprint somewhere.  If that is in anything smaller
>than a DIP package it would at least need heat sinks to avoid
>desoldering itself.

From what I understand, it's not a misprint. 


Best regards, 
Spehro Pefhany
-- 
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

http://www.elecdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/10118/10118.html

has the power requirement 140mA for the ENC28J60