[Diy_efi] NetPIC

[Phil Hunter]

The discussion of RT-Linux, ISA cards, and uC coprocessors
reminded me of this web site:
http://www.eix.co.uk/Ethernet/WWarticle.htm

The "jist" of the article is PC interfacing via Ethernet,
the "black box" at the other end is a PIC micro talking to
an ISA bus E-net card, which I thought was rather clever.
The PIC is basically used as a data pass-thru device to
convert the E-net packets into RS-232. Source code for the
PIC doesn't seem to be available, just a binary, but if it
only passes data, that should not be a major obstacle. The
article mentions a specific chip set for the E-net card,
don't know if they are common or compatible/interchangeable
w/ others.

IMO, the whole PC - Ethernet - NetPIC system is a serious
violation of the KISS principle, but if we "Blue Sky" a
bit, this could make for some interesting building blocks.

Some rather thin diameter coax is available that would
allow a network to go between the passenger and engine
compartments, they tend to be very lossy the smaller you
go, but for short distances it should not be a problem.
I have some solid sleeve coax that is only 0.085inch in
diameter, that ought to easily fit thru some place in the
firewall, got it at a hamfest. Multiple devices under the
hood could be connected to a laptop by drilling only one
small hole. Be sure to use 50ohm impedance cable rather
than 75ohm typically used for TV.

Ignoring e-net, just the ISA bus to uC interface has
some interesting possibilities, what about a Data-Acq
card instead? Perhaps a sound card w/ DSP? Dunno how
do-able that one is, but an obvious app would be knock
detection.

regards,
philh
(digest)

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