On Sun, March 11, 2012 1:24 pm, Herbert Graf wrote: > > On 2012-03-09, at 6:23 PM, V G wrote: > >> On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 5:22 PM, Herbert Graf wrote: >> >>> Good point. I'm so used to working with parts that integrate the MAC >>> and >>> PHY. You're right, in most of the rest of the work, the PHY is often >>> still an external component. >>> >> >> Can you give me an example of a part that integrate the MAC and PHY? > > The ENC MCHIP part does. The Wiznet parts as well. > > There are I believe others, but those are the ones I'm most familiar with= .. A PHY and a MAC are two very different beasts- at its heart, a PHY is an analog part, a MAC is a digital part. Getting them both to work right on the same piece of silicon is a challenge, and leads to very costly silicon. You will notice that the PIC32 is only available with an integrated MAC, and a PIC18F97J60 (integrated MAC/PHY) is the most expensive PIC18FxxJxx part (Digikey 100 piece pricing) When it fits within the size constraints, I definitely prefer a separate MAC/PHY - you can place the MAC where it is more convenient, and the PHY very close to the mag/jack. If the choice was integrated MAC/PHY or integrated mag/jack, lacking other constraints I will choose the integrated mag/jack every time. Matt Bennett Just outside of Austin, TX 30.51,-97.91 The views I express are my own, not that of my employer, a large multinational corporation that you are familiar with. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .