gEDA-dev: cpu with ethernet and ram...

[DJ Delorie]

> Hmmm a cpu with ethernet and ram....

The next furnace controller.  32MHz M32C (16 bit), 10baseT ethernet,
512Mb SRAM.  Nothing magic, just trying to get rid of the biege box on
the floor.

Round 3, if I ever get there, will be embedded Linux.  Say, ARM cpu
(xscale or cirrus), 10/100 ethernet, 16Mb DRAM.  Maybe an mcu for each
zone to run the comms.  My evil plan is to have a core design that can
be applied to anything, and make that a hobby.  Example: take an old
1200 baud modem.  Rip out the circuit board, put in embedded linux,
using the same connectors/leds/whatever.  Old keyboard?  Embedded
linux.  Put power, vga, and usb connectors on the back edge.  Old
10baseT hub?  Now it's a four-port linux router.

Heck... old 386 laptop?  Yup, swap out the mobo for a higher-speed
(maybe dual xscale) one.

Linux alarm clocks.  Linux wall hangings.  Eurocard-based linux blade
cluster (for research purposes, of course ;)

Linux everywhere.

This all goes back to an old project: the Hobby Platform
(http://www.delorie.com/hobbyplat/).  The original plan was for a
hobby-designed PDA, but the new idea was to have a linux core you
could plug into anything.  Obviously, SIMM-based computers have done
that, but consider a 100% stand-alone linux core that plugged into
0.1" headers?  Say, with CF, ethernet, serial, and power all on the
cpu board, and easy-interface I/O on the headers?