From what I can see there are only two ethernet interface available
for the beagleboard, the tincan one,
and one from http://www.micrel.com/page.do?page=product-info/embedded_control.jsp,
although I can't see the word "beagle" on that page.
Both are SPI interfaced. Is this the only option? I am concerned that
the performance will be rather dismal, i.e. not even 10Mb/s.
It seems that I have to go USB to get better performance, and from a
manufacturing point of view, having a little dongle plugged in is
annoying. (The reviews of the USB200M on newegg are also not
encouraging)
Are there other projects in the works?
What I would like would be a 10/100 ethernet interface that has a
10/100/1000 PHY, such that it will do auto-MX. Combine with a 4-port
switch, so that I can deploy a beagle board as a "bump-in-the-wire",
or
"daisy-chain" them.
You can add a USB to Ethernet dongle or a WifI dongle onto the Host port of the BeagleBoard. That coupled with the ones you have already mentioned are the only currently available options.
As to what you would like, that is already in the works, just not as an add-on board to the BeagleBoard.
Gerald
You can add a USB to Ethernet dongle or a WifI dongle onto the Host port of
the BeagleBoard. That coupled with the ones you have already mentioned are
the only currently available options.
Yeah, it's just not very stable. We need to build 10 units for
prototyping, we may switch to GUMSTIX.
At 1000s, I'd just do the right thing, put a USB-ethernet chip on a
board, but the sticky point is unit 11 through 999.
As to what you would like, that is already in the works, just not as an
add-on board to the BeagleBoard.
Please tell me more (directly if you prefer). Building hardware is
not my goal --- I'm happy to be an advance customer for something
else.
Tincan people tell me that they get 7Mb/s out of this device, and that
it's in the mail.
That should be enough to saturate a DSL, so maybe I shouldn't worry
too much.
Gumstix is your best bet. Beagle is not sold in large quantities for commercial use, unless of course you choose to take the design information and build your own version of the board or modify it the way that Always Innovating has done.
The newest version of Beagle due out in the March timeframe will have Ethernet on it.
Gerald
Assuming we talk Rev D? Does (DM/AM/OMAP? J)3730 contain Ethernet or will it be with an external chip (like LAN9221 or similar) on the GPMC?
And is it currently scheduled for March? – Isn’t it a bit earlier than firstly planned? (Which I BTW highly appreciate J)
Thanks for sharing
Søren
It will not be called Rev D but something different.
DM/AM/OMAP3730 does not contain Etherent.
It will not be on the GPMC bus. It will be off the USB bus.
It is currently scheduled for March, but the schedule is tight due to the availability of the new version of the silicon.
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Gerald
Hi Gerald
Thanks for fast reply - as usual J
To make sure I get you right: It’s the board we until now have called Rev D? - Correct?
Or will there as well be another Beagle Rev D in this Spring/Summer?
Søren
Yes, up until now it was the Rev D. But, because of a certain 'feature" we are forced to raise the price of the board. So, we plan to continue to offer the Rev C4 for as long as people buy them. So, we decided to call this one a different name to minimize the confusion. the Rev C4 is in productionnow and we hope to start shipping in amonth. It is the 720MHz version of the OMAP3530.
Gerald