PC's and EFI

[Sandy]

All the yap about the PC based FI system has been hashed out so many times I'd
have thought that this issue would not show its ugly head again. First off, it
can be done with that type of hardware, but why? To do something as simple as
multi-channel PWM control and that sort of nice port level control on a PC or
any generic processor will require work. On the other hand, I can go out and
buy a $59 8051 card that has it built in, and that can control a complete
injection system. It is that specalized bit of hardware that makes the
programmers job easier, and not hogging CPU resources to, for example, Do PWM
to several ports. At the other end of the spectrum are CPU's that are designed
to do exactly EFI and engine management, Intel has them, Moto has them
(68CHxx,
683XX series), others as well. The 68332 has more computing power then you
will
need for most system, if that is not enough, add another processor. The key
here is that you can have low cost hardware that IS designed to go in a car.
Most of the PC crap (except the pc104 systems) would be about as reliable as a
leaky gas tank. The hardware is low cost, but it is not very suited to doing
the task, it is big, bulky, the pc boards have a poor form factor, the
connectors are unreliable, not desinged to take vibrations, power problems,
etc, the whole thing is just wrong. The PC104 boards are another story, but
you
will find that the cost is much more then the dedicated processor cards.
Again,
it can be done, by why? You can buy low cost board, get compilers, debuggers
for NT for a minimal cost, so why not just toss the old PC hardware and let a
dead dogs lie.


Sandy