Old News

FreeIO.org Major Changes -  14 January 2004

The focus of this site will transition to strictly I/O projects. Due to the parts costs and logistics involved in developing processor boards, the Toast board will be the last one of those. The next projects will not interface directly to computer internals. The ISA bus is dead, the PCI bus is changing, and choosing any of these limits the target platform to a system which uses them. Thus the next series of projects will interface to something far more common, that being the USB interface. The next series of projects will be small boards to test and develop the USB interface tools required to build larger boards. The intent is to develop a standard drop-in USB interface that I can build upon.

Toast ColdFire Controller Board Developments -  26 September 2002

Several developers are working with the FreeIO.org Toast board.  The big problem is the difficulty and expense involved with hand building the boards from parts built in small quantities.  There are still plans to design a PC/104 form factor version of the Toast board, although this will not be done until there a consensus that the electronic design is completely correct.

Site Changes -  26 February 2002

The FreeIO.org site has been moved from Interland to Can-Host.com.  Some dns servers have been slow to update, and there may have been a few emails bounced or lost during the changeover.  If you have emailed one of us and not received an answer, please resend the email.

Toast ColdFire Controller Board Version 1.01 -  26 February 2002

Toast version 1.01 is ready for release and will be posted shortly.   The only physical change to the board layout is the new footprint for U10, to improve manufacturability.  Four of the five boards from the first batch have been sent out to developers and users, and feedback will be incorporated in version 1.02.  So far, there have been no schematic changes required.

Toast ColdFire Controller Board Test and Software Progress -  14 November 2001

Two prototypes of the Toast ColdFire Control Board have been built, and preliminary hardware tests are complete.  The BDM port works and the flash memory can be programmed through that port using the P&E Micro software and BDM cable.  The pictures have been updated to show the serial number 2 prototype, which has two ethernet controllers on it.  This particular prototype is being sent off this week to Andreas Schuldei who has graciously volunteered to help with porting uClinux to the board.  There will be minor changes to the VHDL code appearing this week in order to support two ethernet controllers.  The link is on the Toast ColdFire Controller Board page.

Layout/Route of Toast ColdFire Controller Board Released -  19 September 2001

The Toast ColdFire Control Board circuit board files have been released.  Manufacture of the first articles is under way.  The schematic and printed circuit board CAD files are being released for both the GNU/Linux and Wxx platforms using the Eagle 4.03 CAD system.  As usual, the design and all of its files are released under GPL.  The link is on the Toast ColdFire Controller Board page.

Preliminary Design Files for Toast ColdFire Controller Board Released -  04 August  2001

The Toast ColdFire Control Board preliminary design files have been released.  This work-in-progress is a control board based on the Motorola MCF5307 ColdFire processor, and includes provisions for up to 4 megabytes of flash memory, 16 megabytes of SDRAM, 10/100BaseT ethernet, two serial ports, real time clock, and a PC/104 expansion bus.  The schematic is complete and being reviewed, and the printed circuit board layout has begun. 

Design for Juice I/O Cross-Extender Board Released -  27 June 2001

The Juice I/O Cross-Extender Board has been released as source and manufacturing files. This board is a cross-extender between the ISA bus and the PC/104 , to allow testing of PC/104 bus boards in a conventional PC.   Full design files are provided, along with manufacturing files for the board.   The schematic and printed wiring board CAD files are being released for both the GNU/Linux and Wxx platforms using the Eagle 4.03 CAD system.  As usual, the design and all of its files are released under GPL.  The link is on the Juice I/O Cross-Extender page.

First Article of Grits Programmable I/O Board Built, Pictures Released -  18 June 2001

The first article of the Grits Programmable I/O board and the revised version of the Cornbread Programmable I/O board have been built.  Pictures are available both on the Board Pictures page and also on the Grits Programmable I/O page.

Design for Grits Programmable I/O Board Released -  29 May 2001

The Grits Programmable I/O board has been released as source and manufacturing files. This board is built in the PC/104 embedded computer format.  Programmable inputs and outputs are accessed through one or more I/O addresses, and a switchable interrupt is provided.  Full design files are provided, along with manufacturing files for the board.   The schematic and printed wiring board CAD files are being initially released for the GNU/Linux platform and the Eagle 4.01 CAD system.  As usual, the design and all of its files are released under GPL.  The link is on the Grits Programmable I/O page.

GNU/Linux Eagle 4.01 CAD Design for Cornbread Board Released -  25 May 2001

The Cornbread Board has been updated, and the design brought onto the GNU/Linux platform and the Eagle 4.01 CAD system.  Full design files are provided, along with manufacturing files for the board.   As usual, the design and all of its files are released under GPL.  The link is on the Cornbread Programmable I/O page.

GNU/Linux Driver for Cornbread and Flapjack Boards Released -  17 May 2001

Tim Spence has contributed GNU/Linux user space driver code for the Cornbread Board.  This code also works for the Flapjack Board, since that is a proper subset of the Cornbread Board.  The link is on the I/O GNU/Linux Drivers page.  Thanks, Tim!

Biscuit ColdFire Embedded Control Board Processor Type Changed -  22 April 2001

After considerable deliberation, it was decided to change the processor for the Biscuit board to a Motorola MCF5272.  This device has several devices built in which will simplify use of the processor in embedded "ethernet appliance" applications.  The deciding factor was the built in 10/100 Mbs ethernet MAC.  The MCF5272 documentation is even more thorough than usual for Motorola.

Snapshot of uClinux/Coldfire Web Site Added -  22 April 2001

The Moreton Bay web site has had operating uClinux/ColdFire source and binary for common ColdFire boards for a couple of years.  Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to find since their top level site points to the Lineo main page.  We now have a link to it on the Links page, and we have also put up a snapshot of it.  We would mirror it except that we do not have such privileges on our server.

Biscuit ColdFire Embedded Control Board Library Files Released -  11 January 2001

The first version of the Biscuit ColdFire Embedded Control Board library files have been released.  These are specific to the Eagle electronic CAD system, which is being used in this development.  The files are available in gzip format for GNU/Linux users, and in zip format for Wxx users, since Eagle will run under both environments.  As usual, it is released under GPL.

Next Generation Software Development Unit Design in Progress -  09 November 2000

The next big project in work at freeio.org is a Next Generation Software Development Unit.  To understand the concept, look here.  This is based on the Motorola MCF5307 ColdFire processor, and is being built from the start to run uClinux (look here, here, and here for details) which is a version of GNU/Linux optimized for processors without memory management units, such as the Motorola DragonBall and ColdFire.  This unit is being designed to meet one of our contributors needs, and will be easily extendable.  As usual, all designs and software will be released under GPL.

Moved Site Maintenance to GNU/Linux Platform -  08 November 2000

Wxx is now out of the loop for most activities, and web site development is the latest part to be switched.  Further site development will be done with the GNU/Linux platform, using free software for building web pages (Mozilla, at least for now). The only part of the activity which still really requires Wxx is the CPLD/FPGA development, where both Lattice and Xilinx tools are not yet available for GNU/Linux.   Pity....

Specification and Schematic Files Added-  28 April 2000

The Specification files in Adobe Acrobat format, and the schematic files in HPGL (the most common plotter language) have been added for both the Flapjack and Cornbread boards.   HPGL is a vector format which not only provides excellent quality plots on HP and clone plotters, but is also readily imported into many graphics programs.

Flapjack Programmable IO Board Testing Completed  -  20 April 2000

Testing of the Flapjack board is complete, and all hardware and VHDL has been validated.  All functions are working correctly. 

Cornbread Programmable IO Board Testing Completed  -  18 April 2000

Testing of the Cornbread board is complete, and all hardware and VHDL has been validated.  All functions are working correctly. The basic_io.c program in the 16-bit section of the I/O Wxx Drivers page has all of the requisite functions to operate the board.  The 32-bit drivers are in-work.

Testing showed that there was an error in the steering logic, which has been fixed in this release.  The preliminary 16-bit Wxx test code written  in C and compiled with Borland C++ 3.1 is included.   The Cornbread board has been tested in write mode, and everything works as designed.

Updated Flapjack and Cornbread IO Card Designs, Added Pictures -  28 March 2000

Prototype testing showed that there was an electrical error common to both designs, which has been fixed in this release of both designs.  Pictures of the boards have been added to the Pictures page.

Updated Flapjack and Cornbread Programmable Logic VHDL code -  20 March 2000

Testing showed that there was an error in the addressing logic, which has been fixed in this release.

Posted Flapjack, Updated Cornbread Programmable IO Card Designs -  18 March 2000

The I/O Hardware Design page now has the 03-18-2000 versions of the Flapjack and Cornbread Programmable I/O Card source and manufacturing files.

Posted Cornbread Programmable IO Card Design -  11 March 2000

The I/O Hardware Design page now has the 03-11-2000 version of the Cornbread Programmable I/O Card source and manufacturing files.

Web Site Update - 08 March 2000

Completed I/O Hardware Designs page, (no links yet).

Web Site Update - 07 March 2000

Completed Project Libraries main page.

Web Site Update - 05 March 2000

Completed About Free Software page and Goals and Purposes page.

Web Site Update - 04 March 2000

Completed About FreeIO.org page and Sponsors page.

Web Site Update - 03 March 2000

Basic logical structure of site implemented and uploaded.  Content will follow.

Site Initialization - 02 March 2000

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