Mezzanine Cards provide graphics control.
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Press Release Summary:
Models P18 PCoMIP and P518 offer graphics functionality in on-board Altera Cyclone FPGA. Both feature 16 Mb of frame buffer connected to FPGA via 133 MHz, 16- or 32-bit data bus. Analog and DVI digital video outputs are provided as well as LVDS interface for TFT displays. On-board FPGAs act as 32-bit PCI targets for either 33 or 66 MHz PCI buses. Video compression, bit-blitter, rendering, pattern recognition, or 2D/3D graphics algorithms can be accommodated.
Original Press Release:
PCoMIP and PMC Graphics Modules Maximize Flexibility in Embedded Applications
Dallas, June 13, 2005 - Two new graphic controllers from MEN Micro (www.menmicro.com) give designers of embedded systems the flexibility of configuring application-specific capabilities in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for systems based on either the Intel® or PowerPC® architectures. In addition, the new PCoMIP and PMC mezzanine cards will operate over the entire industrial temperature range (-40 to +85 degrees C). And they can be deployed in systems based on a variety of buses including VMEbus, CompactPCI or PXI, or in standalone compute platforms.
The P18 PCoMIP module and the P518 PMC module both offer the same graphics functionality in an on-board Altera Cyclone FPGA. Both modules feature 16 megabytes (MB) of frame buffer connected to the FPGA via a 133 MHz, 16- or 32-bit data bus. Analog and DVI digital video outputs are provided as well as a low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface on the rear of the modules for TFT displays.
A complete graphics controller is pre-loaded into the FPGA on the P18 and P518. The on-board FPGAs act as 32-bit PCI targets for either 33- or 66-MHz PCI buses. The graphics clock is supplied by a 48-MHz oscillator. Both the P18 and the P518 consume less than 1 Watt of electricity. Display modes can be altered by simply updating the contents of flash memory. Updates are available when the system re-starts.
The P18 and P518 also give embedded system designers the flexibility of integrating application-specific graphics functionality into the FPGA on-board. For example, video compression, bit-blitter, rendering, pattern recognition, or 2D/3D graphics algorithms can be accommodated in the FPGA on the P18 or P518. Non-graphics functionality such as digital I/O can also be loaded into the on-board FPGA.
Deploying the graphics functionality in an FPGA ensures the long-term availability that is frequently required in industrial embedded applications. Graphics controller chips are often obsolete in a few years, whereas intellectual property (IP) cores for graphics controllers can be supported for a significantly longer period of time. Guaranteed delivery of the FPGA and most graphics IP cores usually extends well beyond 10 years.
Byte-swapping logic on both the P18 and P518 allow both modules to support either PowerPC or Intel architectures.
Pricing and Availability
The P18 and P518 are available now from MEN Micro, Inc. Pricing starts at $474 for either module in single units. In the United States, MEN Micro products are sold through a national network of technical manufacturer's representatives. For sales information, call 512-267-8883, send faxes to 512-267-8803 or email sales@menmicro.com. For more information on the P18 and P518, this press release, a product photo and collateral materials are available at men.de/products/press.
About MEN Micro
MEN designs, manufactures and sells board-level industrial real-time and embedded computer products. The flexibility inherent in MEN's standard products allows system platforms to be custom configured for a wide range of applications. In addition, the company develops custom boards and systems for OEMs, end users and system integrators. MEN's products include Embedded System Modules (ESM), VMEbus and CompactPCI compute platforms with Intel Pentium, Motorola 68000 or PowerPC processors, and a wide selection of M‑Module or PC·MIP mezzanine I/O modules. The MEN product lines support the most widely used operating systems, including Windows NT, VxWorks, OS-9, QNX and Linux.
MEN was founded in 1982 in Nürnberg, Germany, as MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH. The company has subsidiaries in France, MEN Mikro Elektronik SA; the United Kingdom, MEN Micro, Ltd., and the United States, MEN Micro, Inc. A network of technical distributors services and supports the rest of the world.
