Harold M Hallikainen wrote:
>
>         A project I've been considering a PIC for is just getting too
> big.  I wonder about the availability of a simple to interface 386 or 486
> chip for embedded systems?  I'm thinking of hanging a static RAM chip, an
> EPROM and some other I/O on it (kinda like the ISA bus).  Any low cost
> simple chips for something like this?  Years ago I did a system with the
> 6802.  It was real simple, but is kinda obsolete now and suffers from a
> limited memory map.  The hardware interface was nice, though.

I've seen the National NS486 chips.  They seem really nice.  You can
order literature free from their web site at www.national.com.  They
call the chip Odin.

Also, the place where I'm going off to work for my workterm next week
uses an embedded 486 board that has a ton of I/O.  I don't know a lot
about them yet except that they cost about $150 Canadian (much less in
US$) and they can be programmed from any host PC. I'll be using Borland
C++ on them because I have to write software that does complex
mathematical analysis for a load cell but I'm sure you can use whatever
you want (ASM, etc..).  I was shown pictures of some existing equipment
and the boards aren't very big.   At first I imagined them to be
complete overkill for most embedded applications but I realized that
their low price makes it OK in some cases.

If you want some information I can send you some shortly after May 4, if
you wish.

James Oakley

cc958390@vulcan.northatlantic.nf.ca  -  jimmie.funk@nf.sympatico.ca