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WEB-ENABLED PC/104-PLUS PENTIUM SBC THRIVES AT EXTENDED TEMPERATURES FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
05 January 2005 - WinSystems
| WinSystems today introduced their PPM-TX, the first PC/104-Plus Pentium single board computer (SBC) with a -40° to +85°C operational temperature range. Included on the PPM-TX are 4 serial COM ports and a 10/100 Ethernet controller. Powered by a 166 MHz PentiumMMX, it is ideal for thin-client and other network-enabled applications. The board is small, measuring only 3.6' x 3.8' (90mm x 96mm), and will run PC-compatible software for space- and power-limited embedded designs. The PPM-TX is targeted for the industrial telecommunication, data communication and information appliance markets. |
The 166 MHz Intel (Sunnyvale, CA) 'Tillamook' Pentium CPU operates over the industrial temperature range without requiring fans or forced air-cooling. An internal floating-point processor (for math-intensive applications) and 32Kbytes of on-chip cache improves its overall performance. The low power, Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology allows the PPM-TX to be compatible with the installed base of applications for MS-DOS, Windows, Linux and other PC-compatible operating systems and executives. The companion Intel 430TX PCI chip set contains the core logic to provide PC-compatibility plus the I/O and bus interface logic including the keyboard controller, 16-channel interrupt controller, and real-time clock. Onboard peripherals include DMA controllers, three 16-bit counter/timers, two interrupt controllers, keyboard controller, speaker port, and battery-backed real-time clock. Additionally, four independent RS-232 serial channels, USB port, parallel line printer (LPT) interface, floppy disk controller, EIDE hard disk interface and mouse port are provided. A precision power-fail reset circuit and watchdog-timer are onboard for remote and unattended applications. The PPM-TX supports 32-, 64-, 128-, or 256-Mbytes of SDRAM. It is field upgradeable since it is mounted in a standard SODIMM socket. An onboard 32-pin socket supports up to a 288 Mbyte M-Systems (Fremont, CA) DiskOnChip Flash memory device for use as a solid state disk (SSD). This SSD solution is a viable alternative for fragile floppy and hard disk drives in harsh environmental applications. All of these features are included on a single, 3.6' x 3.8'-inch PC/104-Plus compliant board. The PPM-TX can operate as a standalone SBC or the system engineer can add either off-the-shelf or user-designed PC/104 and PC/104-Plus expansion I/O modules. The PC/104-Plus connector was added to support PCI expansion for high-speed peripheral interconnections. The PPM-TX-166's standard operating temperature range is from -40° to +85°C range at 166 MHz. The 266 MHz version operates from -40° to +70°C. Neither board requires a fan for cooling.
http://www.winsystems.com/
About: WinSystems
Founded in 1982, we manufacture and distribute embedded computers for use in industrial applications. Our products include embedded PC-compatible single board computers, memory boards, input/output (I/O) and enclosures based upon the STD Bus and PC/104 Bus standard architecture.We offer three product families: Embedded PCs. We design both busless embedded single board computers (SBCs) with PC/104 and PC/104-Plus expansion and computers with a hybrid of both STD Bus and PC/104 Bus support. These units are optimized for low cost and high functionality by incorporating all of the basic functions of a computer on a single circuit card. These PC/104, PC/104-Plus and STD Bus expandable PCs embed the PC architecture in space and power sensitive industrial applications. We standardize this hardware and software around the broadly supported PC architecture to save the embedded systems designers substantial development costs and risks plus shorten their time-to-market. STD Bus. As the approved IEEE-961 standard microcomputer bus, the STD Bus is popular worldwide. The STD Bus has a number of advantages over other bus architectures used in industrial applications such as the PC Bus and Multibus. Its simple interface, smaller card size (4.5” x 6.5”); solid, nearly square peripheral cards, and strong card mounts, tolerate shock and vibrations making the STD Bus ideal for rugged industrial enviroments. PC/104 Bus. The PC/104 standard defines a compact, self-stacking, modular form-factor bus for embedding IBM PC and PC/AT compatible system functions within embedded microcomputer applications. The PC/104 modules' small size (3.6” x 3.8”) and low power requirements (typically 1-2 watts per module) make them ideally suited to embedded control applications. Distribution: Direct sales force. Markets: Orginal Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and systems integrators selling to industrial, manufacturing, transportation, communication and military industries, or other markets that require electronic bus products with rugged durability, performance and a long system life span. |
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