A thought...

[Kalle Pihlajasaari]

Hi Darrell,

> The main problem with PC104 is the cost.  Other than that, it's an ideal
 
> CPU - 486DX2 (no ports, no RAM) -                              US$1100.00 
> Analog / Digital I/O board (8 analog, 12 bit, 16 digital)-      US$560.00
> Viper PCMCIA hard drive -  with pc104 adapter board             US$500.00
> (nifty little unit, BTW, shock rating 100G's operating, 
> 750G's non operating, 350Mbytes)
> Power supply - Tri M systems vehicle power supply -             US$210.00
> Serial port card, 2-RS232, 2-RS485 -                            $US310.00
>                                                                 ---------
>                                                                US$2680.00

The prices are not all that bad, if you use a 1Mbyte flash drive
for US$ 100 and leave out the serial ports (unless included on
the processor card) you save $810 to get you to $1870 and this is
only $600 more than a mapped ignition someone just quoted.

> they do have industrial temp specs, but they are just not produced in the

Yes, you don't have to hunt around for temperature stable
components you get everything seleted and burnt in and 
guaranteed at industrial (or automotive) temps.

As I said in my first post, not viable for production but if you
do ix86 software design already then the development will be a
lot easier than yet another ne processor (badly doccumented
or not a standard part).  For a hobby actually quite a good
idea, or use stock MB and make a industrial case for it. then the
cost is only the cost of making the case (with card clamps &c.).

Cheers
-- 
Kalle Pihlajasaari     kalle at data.co.za
Interface Products     Box 15775, Doornfontein, 2028, South Africa
+27 (11) 402-7750      Fax: +27 (11) 402-7751