I have a couple of Altera dev boards - a Terasic DE2, and an old Stratix "SmartPack"; and I really want to play with an Ethernet MAC core. The trouble is, the DE2 has a full-blown Ethernet controller - and the SmartPack has nothing. I'm essentially looking for a board that has MII/GMII on one side, and an RJ-45 connector on the other. These exist, but cost hundreds of dollars. (the EVB-LAN8700 would be perfect, if it wasn't nearly $300!) Does anyone know of a cheap (~$50) board that essentially does the above? 10/100 would be fine. If I can't find one, and have to roll one, would there be any interest in it?
Cheap Ethernet PHY boards?
Started by ●May 16, 2009
Reply by ●May 16, 20092009-05-16
On May 16, 6:09=A0am, radarman <jsham...@gmail.com> wrote:> I have a couple of Altera dev boards - a Terasic DE2, and an old > Stratix "SmartPack"; and I really want to play with an Ethernet MAC > core. The trouble is, the DE2 has a full-blown Ethernet controller - > and the SmartPack has nothing. > > I'm essentially looking for a board that has MII/GMII on one side, and > an RJ-45 connector on the other. These exist, but cost hundreds of > dollars. (the EVB-LAN8700 would be perfect, if it wasn't nearly $300!) > Does anyone know of a cheap (~$50) board that essentially does the > above? 10/100 would be fine. > > If I can't find one, and have to roll one, would there be any interest > in it?Have you checked Xilinx EVMS? They have a starter kit that may be of your insterest : www.xilinx.com/s3estarterkit (~$150). - Sebastien
Reply by ●May 16, 20092009-05-16
There is a DP83848 based module in our product range that might do what you want. It will probably need physical adaption. There isn't much info on our website on this but contact our sales team for more details. Details on our website www.enterpoint.co.uk. Price on this module approximately $40 + carraige and we do appear to have stock. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. On 16 May, 06:09, radarman <jsham...@gmail.com> wrote:> I have a couple of Altera dev boards - a Terasic DE2, and an old > Stratix "SmartPack"; and I really want to play with an Ethernet MAC > core. The trouble is, the DE2 has a full-blown Ethernet controller - > and the SmartPack has nothing. > > I'm essentially looking for a board that has MII/GMII on one side, and > an RJ-45 connector on the other. These exist, but cost hundreds of > dollars. (the EVB-LAN8700 would be perfect, if it wasn't nearly $300!) > Does anyone know of a cheap (~$50) board that essentially does the > above? 10/100 would be fine. > > If I can't find one, and have to roll one, would there be any interest > in it?
Reply by ●May 16, 20092009-05-16
radarman <jshamlet@gmail.com> wrote: (snip)> I'm essentially looking for a board that has MII/GMII on one side, and > an RJ-45 connector on the other. These exist, but cost hundreds of > dollars. (the EVB-LAN8700 would be perfect, if it wasn't nearly $300!) > Does anyone know of a cheap (~$50) board that essentially does the > above? 10/100 would be fine.The Spartan3E board has built in 10/100 PHY, supply your own MAC. That is $150, so more than $50, less than $300. -- glen
Reply by ●May 21, 20092009-05-21
On May 16, 6:12=A0am, glen herrmannsfeldt <g...@ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:> radarman <jsham...@gmail.com> wrote: > > (snip) > > > I'm essentially looking for a board that has MII/GMII on one side, and > > an RJ-45 connector on the other. These exist, but cost hundreds of > > dollars. (the EVB-LAN8700 would be perfect, if it wasn't nearly $300!) > > Does anyone know of a cheap (~$50) board that essentially does the > > above? 10/100 would be fine. > > The Spartan3E board has built in 10/100 PHY, supply your > own MAC. =A0That is $150, so more than $50, less than $300. > > -- glenI'm already set up for Altera, though the Spartan 3e board is tempting. However, I've priced the parts for a board at under $20. In particular, Micrel has a 10/100 Phy for ~$6.50, and a Magjack RJ45 with integrated magnetics goes for about $9. That's really about it, save for a few biasing resistors, bypass caps, ferrite beads, and some header strip. The PCB's will likely cost a bit, but I suspect a simple 4-layer board will suffice - which most prototype places can do for cheap. Hopefully, if the boards work, I can sell the extras to recoup a bit of the cost.