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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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