AW: [microblaze-uclinux] Low cost uClinux Microblaze platform (existenceor interest ??)

["Schunke Jan-Hendrik" <Schunke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi John,

I think the main problem is that you need the edk. Even if you can get the hardware for around $ 250 you still need the edk which is as far as I know another $995 dollar. You could probably generate a bitfile with a microblaze and probably distribute that but what if I need for example more timers or my own user peripheral? Even though I like the microblaze a lot I think that for a hobbyist an open source project like the openrisc1000 is probably a better choice (sorry to say so).
Or do you see a chance that the microblaze will be freely available for non commercial applications?

Jan

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: John Williams [mailto:jwilliams@itee.uq.edu.au] 
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 17. Dezember 2003 08:29
> An: microblaze-uclinux@itee.uq.edu.au
> Betreff: Re: [microblaze-uclinux] Low cost uClinux Microblaze 
> platform (existenceor interest ??)
> 
> 
> Hi David,
> 
> I think you raise a very important issue.   The small-scale 
> (low volume 
> and evaluation/hobbyist/tinkering) economics of Microblaze 
> systems are 
> rather different to those that current embedded designers are 
> accustomed 
> to.
> 
> As someone pointed out to me just today, they would pay 
> several hundred 
> dollars for a microblaze board and the EDK, but to then pay another 
> US$1500 for ISE...
> 
> So, this has me thinking.  It would be fruitful to see if a 
> useful/useable Microblaze uClinux system could be squeezed 
> into a device 
> that is targettable by Xilinx webpack.  That would 
> significantly lower 
> the bar for people who aren't ready to commit, or want to 
> experiment or 
> whatever.
> 
> Webpack currently targets up to V2-250, S3-400, and V2Pro-2.
> 
> The first thing that has to go is the Xilinx EMAC.  That's an 
> incredibly 
> large core, taking almost a third of a v2-1000... This would 
> necessitate 
> a board with an external combined MAC/PHY chip and development of a 
> small interfacing core.
> 
> mbvanilla having two memory interfaces (DDR + SRAM/Flash) is 
> also quite 
> extravagant - the best bet here might be to use a compact flash slot 
> with xilinx sysace perhaps, that would give us both FPGA 
> configuration 
> management and some persistent storage, thanks to Eric's 
> recent porting 
> of the sysace block driver.
> 
> Microblaze uclinux is generating plenty of attention - I've recently 
> been asked to contribute articles to various online and print 
> publications devoted to embedded systems and so on.
> 
> There appears to be a good opportunity for a low cost, 
> easy-entry board 
> with solid uClinux support.  In my opinion the ability to use WebPack 
> would be an integral part of such a platform.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> John
> 
> 
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