Re: Cobalt Micro (was Re: Build your own Motherboards)

Vladimir Dergachev (vladimid@red.seas.upenn.edu)
Tue, 8 Sep 1998 00:40:29 -0400 (EDT)


> >
> > Well for sensor control this may be ok..
> >
> > This is all great until you want some fast data transmission. What if, say
> > , you want to get 20Mb/s bandwidth ? (for a radio or scope )
>
> At that point you are out of the toys built by hand range except for a
> very very few people. The average inept wielder of a soldering iron (eg me)
> can make i2c stuff work. Doing PCI requires serious tools.
>
In a way yes. In a way no. Take a look at your average PCI card (like,
say, trident video, something not very expensive) What do you see ?
couple of big chips, few discrete parts, lot's of connections.

It is not very difficult to make a program that makes a model of it in
computer and uses, say, spice, to model the RF properties.
Morever, try just to copy it (suppose you already have the design - see
later on this) it would turn out to be quite difficult. I suppose one
would be able to drill all the holes (with patience..).. But the layout ?
I don't think you can get by with the stuff bought in Radio Shack..

As for the actual design then a _lot_ of chip manufacturers give them to
you so you would use their chips. In fact, the reason that there are
different looking cards is because people either try to make something
there aren't standard chips for, or try to cut costs and corners (more
popular).

Vladimir Dergachev

>

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