Don't most modern chipsets also support I2C? I would
imagine that this would be a decent interface to use
instead of a traditional serial port. If necessary,
one could probably place a UART on the I2C bus. [? I
briefly tried to find a stock I2C UART but came up empty;
I suppose that it would be reasonably straightforward to
build one out of something like a Philips 87LPC762, which
incorporate I2C and UART hardware together with 8051 logic
to mediate between them, and cost around $1 to $2 each.]
I will also observe that, with the loss of all this
"legacy" stuff, the choices for cheap & easy interfaces
are getting pretty thin. ISA can be implemented in a
PLD or two but it's as good as dead except for maybe
PC-104. Parallel ports and serial ports appear to be on
their way out. Other than I2C, the replacements -- PCI,
AGP, USB, Firewire, and soon, I guess, HyperTransport and
some others, all are relatively difficult to implement
-- PCI takes at least an FGPA and some expensive IP to
implement -- and are massive overkill for many simpler
tasks such as a lowly serial console. Am I missing something?
Beyond I2C, are there any standard, pervasive, "non-legacy"
interfaces that can be implemented in no more than
$5 in parts and software?
BTW, Ollie, Is there a URL for the 63x and 73x chipset
docs? I didn't immediately find them by coming in the
front door at http://www.sis.com.tw.
--Bob
On Fri, Jun 15, 2001 at 08:27:20AM +0800, Ollie Lho wrote:
> "Eric W. Biederman" wrote:
> >
> > Bari Ari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> >
> > > For embedded apps. USB is becoming a preferred method for booting since
> > > serial ports are no longer included on the many of the latest chipsets.
> >
> > Which generally makes using a serial console pretty hard doesn't it.
> > Or in other words what do people use for a console on a board like
> > that. I admit I have heard interesting stories about ring buffers, in
> > ram but that doesn't sound quite approriate either.
> >
> > My memory has it that most serial ports are on superio chips anyway so
> > I don't see their lack of inclusion on a chipset as a problem.
> >
>
> No, for "next generation" SoC, they just don't put those "Legacy Stuff"
> in
> anymore. Expample, SiS 550.
>
> Ollie
