Hi Danielle,
For what it's worth: I have recently been involved in developing an SDIO device for the Palm, and I should warn you that there is very little information for developers out there, aside from the SDK and accompanying documentation (all of which says it is targeted to PalmOS 4.x). It seems that only a few people (so far) are developing SDIO solutions, so when the inevitable problems arise, you will be largely on your own :-)
I don't know if the situation is different with MMC, but certainly it costs a lot less in fees and licenses, as you point out.
Dave Johnson
On Jul 26, 2004, at 10:08 AM, Danielle O'Hallisey wrote:
I am strongly considering moving into the area of card slot development,
both hardware and software, and was wondering if anyone has any experience
they can share. I have downloaded all of the tools that are generally
available, including the two-thirds of the SDIO spec available to
non-members of the SD Association, the MMC spec (non-member of MMCA,
abridged version) and the tools available for the hardware development kit.
From all this reading I conclude that I will only be allowed to go so far
without joining either the MMCA or SD Association. Both are expensive and I
want to make the right decision, so here’s my question: is there any reason
to avoid the Multimedia Card spec in favor of the SDIO spec for peripheral
development? The MMCA is a little more forthcoming in their open
documentation, and it is legal to develop under their spec with no royalties
(SD Association charges $1k per device that is released after a $1500 annual
membership fee) and with no membership fee other than a one-time $500 charge
to purchase the complete spec.
While I am mulling my options, I am also wondering whether other developers
out there are interested in having tools for the card slot that are not
currently available. One that occurs to me right off the bat is a nicely
wrapped microphone input with its own API, which others could roll into
their unique applications. My background is in audio and industrial
engineering, so I also see several other data capture ideas that could
benefit from the technology (like a fast, multi-input oscilloscope, weather
station or other data capture, etc.)
Thanks for any input you might have,
Danielle O'Hallisey
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