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main board

This is the main board for Merlin 6. Each one can be used as a stand-alone computer or several can be used together as a powerful parallel machine.

Based on a Spartan3 400 (though other chips can be used) the following interfaces will be included:

  • CompactFlash (CF) boot and storage device
  • two DDR SDRAM 184 pin DIMM sockets for main memory: from 128MB to 1GB of 72 bit (ECC) memory
  • two network connectors
  • two PS/2 ports (keyboard and mouse)
  • one Audio/Video (A/V) expansion board connector
  • two i/o network connectors: this forms a single network

Block Diagram

Uploaded Image:m6block2.gif

The Atmel ATmega48 microcontroller reads the FPGA programming from the CF card. After booting the FPGA can access the data on the CF card through the microcontroller.

I/O Cards

Each I/O card includes a Spartan3 50 FPGA, any needed interface chips and connectors. They can be stacked up to five high in a single system. Examples of possible cards include:
  • USB 2.0
  • Fast Ethernet
  • IEEE 1394 Firewire
  • IEEE 802.11g wireless networking
  • analog video input

A/V Cards

Only one such card can be used in a system. The following options connect directly to the main FPGA:
  • low cost audio/video outputs
  • SATA interface and power supply
  • LVDS TFT LCD output, back light power supply and touch screen interface
The following options use a multiplexed interface and require a low cost chip (like the XC9536XL CPLD) to interface to the main FPGA:
  • high quality analog audio/video outputs
  • digital audio/video outputs
  • IDE interface and power supply
  • TTL TFT LCD output, back light power supply and touch screen interface

Link to this Page

  • disk last edited on 25 November 2003 at 5:25:16 pm by gandalf.merlintec.com