AVR-Chat

Hi David,

I see that you apparently have decided for LIN. But have you 
considered CAN, using the standalone I/O controllers MCP25050 from 
Microchip? (See product page: 
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?
IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1335&dDocName=en010402). With these 
chips, you can implement a slave device for little cost and without 
any firmware programming. Plus you get a robust protocol in silicon.
On the master side you would need a CAN controller chip, e.g. the 
MCP2515 from Microchip, which connects via SPI to the host 
controller. With such a setup, I would estimate half a day's work to 
get your described task completed.
You can see both chips mentioned above used in experimental and 
industrial applications here: 
http://www.avrcard.com/products/canly.htm 
http://www.avrcard.com/products/can_adapter.htm 
http://www.avrcard.com/products/canly_avr.htm

Best regards,

Hans