Edit main board

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Last edited: 9:11:11 pm on 11 October 2004 by gandalf.merlintec.com

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
*+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

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