Hello, Could anybody explain some of the difficulties involved in creating a custom embedded linux board. I require one for a project I have in mind. Basically it needs to be a descent speed (~>500MHz) and drive an 800x600 touchscreen panel. The PXA270 chip seems ideal. I have looked at various boards on the market but they all seem to do too much or too little. The gumstix verdex boards look like an excellent choice however I need to drive an LVDS screen. The Arcom Titan board looks perfect but the prices seem very high. This got me thinking of designing my own. Basically I would lay out a circuit in a CAD program to connect the PXA270 pins to various components such as memory, CF controller, LVDS transmitter, USB controller, etc. This would then have to be built by someone (anybody know the costs involved here?). My main question is really how the software would work with this. If I simply had a small linux image on a CF chip would it happily boot off this since linux supports the xscale chips? Or an I missing some large part of the design process? :) Alternatively can anybody point me in the direction of some relativley cheap boards which meet these requirements ( ~=A3100 / $200 ). Also is a development kit absolutley neccessary with boards from companies such as Arcom? Is it not possible to (as before) build an linux image onto a CF card and go from there? Sorry about the number of questions but I am quite new to the embedded world but keen to learn. Many Thanks
Designing PXA270 board
Started by ●December 4, 2007
Reply by ●December 4, 20072007-12-04
Hi, Have you checked if the CM-X270 ou EM-X270 products from Compulab could fir your needs ? See www.compulab.co.il Cheers, Robert <mynameiskev@gmail.com> a �crit dans le message de news: 240bf7f7-00af-4e3e-8c9e-3fe891005c42@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com... Hello, Could anybody explain some of the difficulties involved in creating a custom embedded linux board. I require one for a project I have in mind. Basically it needs to be a descent speed (~>500MHz) and drive an 800x600 touchscreen panel. The PXA270 chip seems ideal. I have looked at various boards on the market but they all seem to do too much or too little. The gumstix verdex boards look like an excellent choice however I need to drive an LVDS screen. The Arcom Titan board looks perfect but the prices seem very high. This got me thinking of designing my own. Basically I would lay out a circuit in a CAD program to connect the PXA270 pins to various components such as memory, CF controller, LVDS transmitter, USB controller, etc. This would then have to be built by someone (anybody know the costs involved here?). My main question is really how the software would work with this. If I simply had a small linux image on a CF chip would it happily boot off this since linux supports the xscale chips? Or an I missing some large part of the design process? :) Alternatively can anybody point me in the direction of some relativley cheap boards which meet these requirements ( ~�100 / $200 ). Also is a development kit absolutley neccessary with boards from companies such as Arcom? Is it not possible to (as before) build an linux image onto a CF card and go from there? Sorry about the number of questions but I am quite new to the embedded world but keen to learn. Many Thanks
Reply by ●December 4, 20072007-12-04
Thanks for your input, I have come across this company before. The spec looks great (apart from no LVDS support) however I am a little confused about what is needed to create a system. Have you used these boards in the past? Would I need the SB-X270 and the CM-X270 to create a working system? Or can I just use the CM-X270 on its own? While the CM is a good price, combined with the SB it starts to get a bit expensive again. Also since all the LCDs I currently have are LVDS they would need some sort of converter On 4 Dec, 14:20, "Robert Lacoste" <use-contact-at-www-alciom-com-for- email> wrote:> Hi, > > Have you checked if the CM-X270 ou EM-X270 products from Compulab could fi=r> your needs ? > Seewww.compulab.co.il > > Cheers, > Robert > > <mynameis...@gmail.com> a =E9crit dans le message de news: > 240bf7f7-00af-4e3e-8c9e-3fe891005...@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com... > Hello, > > Could anybody explain some of the difficulties involved in creating a > custom embedded linux board. I require one for a project I have in > mind. Basically it needs to be a descent speed (~>500MHz) and drive > an 800x600 touchscreen panel. The PXA270 chip seems ideal. > > I have looked at various boards on the market but they all seem to do > too much or too little. The gumstix verdex boards look like an > excellent choice however I need to drive an LVDS screen. The Arcom > Titan board looks perfect but the prices seem very high. This got me > thinking of designing my own. > > Basically I would lay out a circuit in a CAD program to connect the > PXA270 pins to various components such as memory, CF controller, LVDS > transmitter, USB controller, etc. This would then have to be built > by someone (anybody know the costs involved here?). My main question > is really how the software would work with this. If I simply had a > small linux image on a CF chip would it happily boot off this since > linux supports the xscale chips? Or an I missing some large part of > the design process? :) > > Alternatively can anybody point me in the direction of some relativley > cheap boards which meet these requirements ( ~=A3100 / $200 ). Also is > a development kit absolutley neccessary with boards from companies > such as Arcom? Is it not possible to (as before) build an linux image > onto a CF card and go from there? > > Sorry about the number of questions but I am quite new to the embedded > world but keen to learn. > > Many Thanks
Reply by ●December 4, 20072007-12-04
Hi, Basically the CM-X270 is a COM module, meaning that is is designed to be plugged on a carrier board as a component through its 140-pin connectors, providing the PXA270 CPU, RAM, up to 512MB of flash and all interfaces you may think of (namely LCD, touchpanel, Ethernet, USB, serial, I2C, PCI, but also Wifi, GSM and Bluetooth) on a compact and pre-built form. Whatever is the supplier, one of the strong advantages of the COM approach are the cost (often cheaper than buying the components yourself), the time to market and the availability of the prebuilt OS images (Linux and CE basically). You will find detailled datasheets there : http://www.compulab.co.il/x270cm/html/x270-developer.py Regarding the carrier board you have the choice : either to buy a standard carrier board from the supplier, here the SBC-X270 or ATX-X270 standard board in Compulab's product portfolio (in particular useful for prototypes) or designing your own carrier board, including any custom circuitry you may need (like LVDS and a custom LCD connector or power supplies for example). The only product to date in the Compulab's range that doesn't need a base board is the EM-X270, which is basically an OEM version of a PDA. And to answer your question : yes, we have already developped a couple of custom carrier board for Compulab's modules, for applications ranging from hifi and light control to industrial systems. Cheers, Robert, www.alciom.com <mynameiskev@gmail.com> a �crit dans le message de news: fd32b45f-c11d-4f55-a71d-6995e65d2216@t47g2000hsc.googlegroups.com... Thanks for your input, I have come across this company before. The spec looks great (apart from no LVDS support) however I am a little confused about what is needed to create a system. Have you used these boards in the past? Would I need the SB-X270 and the CM-X270 to create a working system? Or can I just use the CM-X270 on its own? While the CM is a good price, combined with the SB it starts to get a bit expensive again. Also since all the LCDs I currently have are LVDS they would need some sort of converter On 4 Dec, 14:20, "Robert Lacoste" <use-contact-at-www-alciom-com-for- email> wrote:> Hi, > > Have you checked if the CM-X270 ou EM-X270 products from Compulab could > fir > your needs ? > Seewww.compulab.co.il > > Cheers, > Robert > > <mynameis...@gmail.com> a �crit dans le message de news: > 240bf7f7-00af-4e3e-8c9e-3fe891005...@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com... > Hello, > > Could anybody explain some of the difficulties involved in creating a > custom embedded linux board. I require one for a project I have in > mind. Basically it needs to be a descent speed (~>500MHz) and drive > an 800x600 touchscreen panel. The PXA270 chip seems ideal. > > I have looked at various boards on the market but they all seem to do > too much or too little. The gumstix verdex boards look like an > excellent choice however I need to drive an LVDS screen. The Arcom > Titan board looks perfect but the prices seem very high. This got me > thinking of designing my own. > > Basically I would lay out a circuit in a CAD program to connect the > PXA270 pins to various components such as memory, CF controller, LVDS > transmitter, USB controller, etc. This would then have to be built > by someone (anybody know the costs involved here?). My main question > is really how the software would work with this. If I simply had a > small linux image on a CF chip would it happily boot off this since > linux supports the xscale chips? Or an I missing some large part of > the design process? :) > > Alternatively can anybody point me in the direction of some relativley > cheap boards which meet these requirements ( ~�100 / $200 ). Also is > a development kit absolutley neccessary with boards from companies > such as Arcom? Is it not possible to (as before) build an linux image > onto a CF card and go from there? > > Sorry about the number of questions but I am quite new to the embedded > world but keen to learn. > > Many Thanks
