Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!uunet!think.com!rpi!gatech!cc.gatech.edu!news
From: doug@cc.gatech.edu (Doug MacKenzie)
Subject: Re: gcc cross compiler for the 6811?
Message-ID: <1992Oct5.163314.23669@cc.gatech.edu>
Sender: news@cc.gatech.edu
Reply-To: doug@cc.gatech.edu (Doug MacKenzie)
Organization: College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
References: <lckpsfINNfb2@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <lcp4fsINN2ln@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <BvKGxE.464@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 16:33:14 GMT
Lines: 50

In article <BvKGxE.464@acsu.buffalo.edu> v078p6g8@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Richard M Wasserman) writes:
>In article <lcp4fsINN2ln@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, cmcmanis@pepper.Eng.Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) writes...
>The nice thing about the miniboard is that it
>..
>>is _designed_ for robotics. Whereas most other "microcontroller" products
>>on the market today are "general purpose" (which means it can do anything
>>with a bit more hardware and software). At least the EVB board actually
>>has prototype space for you to add your hardware.
>> 
>>It seems that a reasonable design would be one with a "bus" at one end
>>of the card and several special purpose daughter board cards like :
>>	robotics daughter board
>>	sensor daughter board
>>	hicurrent controller board
>>	X-10 controller board
>>	keypad interface board.
>>(you get the picture.)
>> 
>>--Chuck
>
>	Actually as I've been thinking about designing such a bus card 
>oriented system based on the intel 80196kb series.  I'd be interested in
>feedback on what to include on the robotics card, best way to go about
>getting them made etc.  If anyone is intersted they can mail direct for more
>info.  This is just a new thought so all input will be taken into account -
>though I have built up 196kb designs that due work :-)
>	Thanks,
>	Rich Wasserman
>

How about using one of the Motorola 6833x micro-controllers and avoid the
whole 6811 compiler problem completely?  The new 68333 is a 68332 with
64K bytes of EEPROM, 4K battery backed ram & 8 channel 10bit A/D unit,
all on one chip.  In march, samples were $199, I assume the price is less
now.

The best thing is the family runs 68020 code directly, so you can use the
GCC without modifications.  Plus, the 6833x's are able to run multiple
PWM outputs (I think 8?) with on-chip timer coprocessor without impacting
the CPU-32's performance.  This allows driving Futaba actuators directly.
You also get a couple serial ports with their own on-chip co-processor.

You put one of those on a board with some motor drivers and maybe some
extra memory and I'll buy it.

I'm a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech. working in mobile robotics.
If your interested, drop me a note.

		Doug MacKenzie
		doug@cc.gatech.edu
