Lpc2000

I want to attempt to interface a LPC2106 to a PCMCIA wireless network
card (PRISM based chipset, using linux drivers as refrence).

As far as hardware goes what options would be best.
I have several PCF8575 chips, these are 16 bit IO expanders for the
I2C bus. Using four of these i can have 64 IO bits accessible via I2C,
problem is they are surface mount and will be a pain in the butt to
mount on a board (I am a student and have limited soldering equipment
and expereince and buget for that matter). Or I can use one or two of
these or 8 (maybe even 16 but i dont know if i got that to spare) bits
straight from the LPC2106 and several latches to build up enough bits
to control the card. But that seems messy to me.

My other option i am considering is a CPLD or an FPGA which will drive
the pcmcia card, my main concern with this is for my project I already
have maxed out my budget and dont want to fork over for another
development board. And since I am have never worked with programmable
logic devices I am scared just to buy a chip and try to mount it on a
board (see earlier concerns about my soldering skills)

I am also on a very tight development schedule I need a working
prototype in 5 weeks.

I also do not have the specs for the pcmcia bus and they want lots of
money for them. can anyone give me any basic timing information like
how long signals need to be available and such. I will try to track
down some datasheets to get this info.

Is it possible to operate a prism based card in 8bit mode? will I need
all the address lines?

At this point i am not concerned about sending data over a wireless
network, just want to be able to view availble networks and statistics.

zworld has a rabbit uC controlling a wireless card and doesnt seem to
use any special hardware but at a cost of $300, i want to do this for
much cheaper.

Thanks for any help advice warnings etc

Josiah Vivona

Do a goggle on "WiFi-SniFi".  It was an interesting project the appeared
in the Circuit Cellar Ink  August 2003 issue.

-Bill Knight
theARMPatch




On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 07:08:26 -0000, cpexed wrote:

I want to attempt to interface a LPC2106 to a PCMCIA wireless network
card (PRISM based chipset, using linux drivers as refrence).

As far as hardware goes what options would be best.
I have several PCF8575 chips, these are 16 bit IO expanders for the
I2C bus. Using four of these i can have 64 IO bits accessible via I2C,
problem is they are surface mount and will be a pain in the butt to
mount on a board (I am a student and have limited soldering equipment
and expereince and buget for that matter). Or I can use one or two of
these or 8 (maybe even 16 but i dont know if i got that to spare) bits
straight from the LPC2106 and several latches to build up enough bits
to control the card. But that seems messy to me.

My other option i am considering is a CPLD or an FPGA which will drive
the pcmcia card, my main concern with this is for my project I already
have maxed out my budget and dont want to fork over for another
development board. And since I am have never worked with programmable
logic devices I am scared just to buy a chip and try to mount it on a
board (see earlier concerns about my soldering skills)

I am also on a very tight development schedule I need a working
prototype in 5 weeks.

I also do not have the specs for the pcmcia bus and they want lots of
money for them. can anyone give me any basic timing information like
how long signals need to be available and such. I will try to track
down some datasheets to get this info.

Is it possible to operate a prism based card in 8bit mode? will I need
all the address lines?

At this point i am not concerned about sending data over a wireless
network, just want to be able to view availble networks and statistics.

zworld has a rabbit uC controlling a wireless card and doesnt seem to
use any special hardware but at a cost of $300, i want to do this for
much cheaper.

Thanks for any help advice warnings etc

Josiah Vivona







Yahoo! Groups Links

> Do a goggle on "WiFi-SniFi".  It was an interesting project the appeared
> in the Circuit Cellar Ink  August 2003 issue.

As another data point here: Practically all of the 802.11b cards sold
now are CardBus :( If you want to be sure you'll be able to use a card
with a simple microcontroller interface, it's better to choose a
CompactFlash card.

-- 
 -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (http://www.zws.com/)
Learn how to develop high-end embedded systems on a tight budget!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750676094/zws-20

I currently have a linksys wpc11. Its a PCMCIA card but in the user
manual under system requirements it states a 16 bit PCMCIA slot so I
think I should be able to use this card. And since I am trying to keep
my budjet down I want to use this card.

Josiah
--- In lpc2000@yahoogroups.com, "Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" <larwe@l...> wrote:
> > Do a goggle on "WiFi-SniFi".  It was an interesting project the
appeared

> > in the Circuit Cellar Ink  August 2003 issue.
> 
> As another data point here: Practically all of the 802.11b cards sold
> now are CardBus :( If you want to be sure you'll be able to use a card
> with a simple microcontroller interface, it's better to choose a
> CompactFlash card.
> 
> -- 
>  -- Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (http://www.zws.com/)
> Learn how to develop high-end embedded systems on a tight budget!
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750676094/zws-20

Haha I purchased the circuit cellar article I almost fill guilty using
it.... but thats ok. Thanks for the tip now my task is just porting
this to the lpc2106.

Josiah
--- In lpc2000@yahoogroups.com, "the ARM Patch" <thearmpatch@c...> wrote:

> Do a goggle on "WiFi-SniFi".  It was an interesting project the appeared
> in the Circuit Cellar Ink  August 2003 issue.
> 
> -Bill Knight
> theARMPatch
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 07:08:26 -0000, cpexed wrote:
> 
> I want to attempt to interface a LPC2106 to a PCMCIA wireless network
> card (PRISM based chipset, using linux drivers as refrence).
> 
> As far as hardware goes what options would be best.
> I have several PCF8575 chips, these are 16 bit IO expanders for the
> I2C bus. Using four of these i can have 64 IO bits accessible via I2C,
> problem is they are surface mount and will be a pain in the butt to
> mount on a board (I am a student and have limited soldering equipment
> and expereince and buget for that matter). Or I can use one or two of
> these or 8 (maybe even 16 but i dont know if i got that to spare) bits
> straight from the LPC2106 and several latches to build up enough bits
> to control the card. But that seems messy to me.
> 
> My other option i am considering is a CPLD or an FPGA which will drive
> the pcmcia card, my main concern with this is for my project I already
> have maxed out my budget and dont want to fork over for another
> development board. And since I am have never worked with programmable
> logic devices I am scared just to buy a chip and try to mount it on a
> board (see earlier concerns about my soldering skills)
> 
> I am also on a very tight development schedule I need a working
> prototype in 5 weeks.
> 
> I also do not have the specs for the pcmcia bus and they want lots of
> money for them. can anyone give me any basic timing information like
> how long signals need to be available and such. I will try to track
> down some datasheets to get this info.
> 
> Is it possible to operate a prism based card in 8bit mode? will I need
> all the address lines?
> 
> At this point i am not concerned about sending data over a wireless
> network, just want to be able to view availble networks and statistics.
> 
> zworld has a rabbit uC controlling a wireless card and doesnt seem to
> use any special hardware but at a cost of $300, i want to do this for
> much cheaper.
> 
> Thanks for any help advice warnings etc
> 
> Josiah Vivona
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yahoo! Groups Links