Ethernet or Internet prototyping board

LJBass · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 5

Hi all,

I've some experience with microcontroller programming, but I'm usely programming software for the windows platform. I've done some CAN and I2C projects and now I want to build an embedded webserver which must have the ability to controll a machine connected to it via internet. I've some experience with TCP and HTTP but not very low level, so this will be all new for me. That's why I desided not to begin from scratch but insteat buy a prototyping board with examples. I was already interrested in the C compiler from CCS because I didn't liked the C18 compiler. I think the CCS compiler is a big improvement for the cost of it. But now my question. I found two prototyping board on the site of CCS, an ethernet board and an internet board. As far as I can see they both can be used for the perpose I want to use them for. What is the difference between them? What is your experience with these boards? And which one would you recommend me?

Thanks in advance,
Bas Wensveen

Mattr0 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 30

Well it depends on what you may need to operate your machine. If you do not need a modem then I would get the embedded ethernet kit. Also the ethernet kit also uses the new Microchip enc38j60 ehternet controller instead of the realtek. The ENC28j60 is a lot easier to use and for board layouts.

also if you are just starting with CCS C i would recommend getting a copy of 3.249 instead of version 4 it is alot more stable.

I hope this helps

asmallri · Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Posts: 1634 Location: Perth, Australia

The ENC28J60 is easy to connect to any PIC with an SPI port. You require a minimum of 4 connections between the PIC and the ENC. The ENC28J60 is VERY power hungry consuming around 200mA at 3.3 volts.

The Realtek RTL8019AS has a parallel interface with data, address and control lines. It takes a lot of i/o pins to interface to it. The Realtek contoller is very mature and is based on the NE2000 archhitecture. It draws about 5mA at 5 volts.

From a driver perspective, they require different drivers but are conceptually similar however the RealTek has been around for years and is both stable and well known.

From a throughput perspective, I have a high throoughput application that achieve a higher throughput on the ENC than on the RTL primarily due to the hassles of managing a bidirectional data bus with the PIC's I/O ports. However, if you add the typical upper layer stack overhead (no applicable in my very lean implementation) then the throughput difference would be minimal as the MHCP stack (and variants) has a lot of overhead which effectively minimizes the difference between the controller performance.

MCHP will soon be releasing (power hungry) PICs with the ENC embedded without requiring the SPI connection. If this is likley to be of future interest then you might consider going now to the ENC however, while architectually similar, the drivers are completely different as the SPI bus is gone and registers are remapped.
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LJBass · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 5

Thanks for the reply's,

I'm now almost sure what to buy.
I'll follow your advice on using version 3.249 of the compiler.
But i still have some doubts about which board to take.
I think the ethernet board is the best choise, but then I saw this post:
https://www.ccsinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27533&highlight=ethernet
Is this problem already resolved? I don't think it's a good idea to buy a unmodified product from CCS that doesn't even work properly.
Then I might better go for the internet board.

Actualy I'm having some doubts about the whole thing. Is its just the v4 compiler and ethernet board that doesn't work properly, or does CCS have more products that doesn't work properly? I want to be sure I buy something that is perfect for what I want to use it for.
What do you think I should do?

Thanks,
Bas Wensveen

Mattr0 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 30

The ethernet board should work just fine. The problem is the new version 4 comiler. Seeing it is a new major release it is very buggy (check out the v4 sticky at the top of the post). Both boards should preform just fine.

Darren Rook · Joined: 06 Sep 2003 Posts: 287 Location: Milwaukee, WI

Does the Realtek part really only take 5mA? How does it get power to drive the PHY?
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asmallri · Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Posts: 1634 Location: Perth, Australia