[HH] Hacking Embedded Linux: More Hardware than You Require

[Greg London]

I just wanted to add: great talk

when I reach the limit of what I can do with microcontrollers,
I'll have to learn Linux and get a beagle bone or something.
And maybe hope I don't get hacked too badly if I hook something
to the internet.

There is a chip I've been keeping an eye on.
It's got an ARM dual core cortex A9 MPCore
and about 150k FPGA gates in a single chip.

It's called "zynq" and is being hyped by xilinx.
Not currently available for sale, but beta testers
apparently have it and are doing things with it.

http://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon-devices/epp/zynq-7000/index.htm

The rumors say it will be shipping in july this year.

There is a development board called the zed-board

http://www.zedboard.org/

Should ship as soon as the chips are shipping.
It will use the ZYNQ chip and a bunch of DDR memory,

It will have 5 of the 12 pin PMOD expansion ports

http://avnetexpress.avnet.com/store/em/EMController/Kits-and-Tools/Development-Kits/_/N-100639?action=products&cat=1&catalogId=500201&cutTape=&inStock=&langId=-1&myCatalog=&npi=&proto=&regionalStock=&rohs=&storeId=500201&term=pmod&topSellers=


and 1 of the FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC)
connectors (something like 60 pins)

http://www.xilinx.com/products/boards_kits/fmc.htm

The ZED Board is supposed to cost $300, I think.
and all the software you need to build an OS and
to make a bitstream for the FPGA will be free.
I assume someone will eventually make a development
board that doesn't have all the bells and whistles
(no FMC connector, slower/smaller memory, etc)
that the zedboard has and sell it cheaper.

At that point, anything you want to do with a
development board and plug in externally will
probably be doable with the zedboard and some
pmod boards to give you the specific IO you need.
Everything else can be done in the FPGA.

Maybe by the time I get beyond microcontrollers,
a cheaper zedboard will be available.
And maybe by then I'll know enough linux to do something
with it.

Greg