All I want to do is be able to read data from a file and throw it out of ei=
ther multiple UARTS, fast
SPIs or 8 bit parallel, into an FPGA at rates of 1-4Mbytes/sec continuous (=
i.e. need enough extra
speed & RAM buffering to cover any filesystem latency).

I've used the PIC24F parts with USB host and SD, which work fine as far as =
they go but the
fundamental speed of the interface is a limiting factor. (as well as, at le=
ast in the case of SD,
inefficient code, but this is fairly easy to tweak for a 2-3x efficiency ga=
in)=20

Does any one know of any MCU that satisfies the following :=20

USB 2.0 high speed or SDHC port, and working free example code to read from=
 a memory device, which
can be compiled with a free or low-cost toolchain. (Ideally IAR EWB kicksta=
rt edition)=20

Not BGA, and readily available in small qty (10s). Onboard Phy would be nic=
e.=20

Not under Linux - just power up & go. It will not be doing anything else - =
just reading a file and
streaming it out so don't want the baggage and learning curve of an OS

NXP LPC1800 looks a possibility with their nxpUSBlib library but not clear =
if their USB library
supports hi-speed.  This post indicates that there are some major performan=
ce issues  at the moment
http://www.lpcware.com/content/forum/mass-storage-readwrite-performance-lpc=
18xx
At least non-BGA packages appear to be becoming more available now.=20

Bare metal code on a RasPi may be an option if I can get the data out someh=
ow - maybe parallel via
IO pins - not looked in detail yet - does anyone know if there is a file sy=
stem avaialabe yet for
bare-metal users?

This looked promising but speed is limited by the slow interface to the hos=
t, and the 4MBytes/sec
speeds claimed turn out to only be useful for card-card copying.
http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/340
I think this is based on a ST ARM Cortex M3 chip.
If they had a way to, for example read USB and spit it out of the 4-bit SPI=
 interface, under control
of the UART port that could be ideal.=20

Something that can be got up & running easily with minimal learning curve i=
s highest priority -
parts cost not a major issue.=20

Just wondering if anyone else has looked into this before I start digging a=
ny further..

--=20
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