Simple peer to peer network?

[Ethan Dicks]

On Thu, Jan 31, 2008 at 10:22:37AM -0600, Jim Brain wrote:
> Chuck Guzis wrote:
> >You know, a $2 PIC (e.g. 18F2580) MCU implements CAN.  It's not 
> >really fast(CAN, not the PIC) but it keeps your car going.  A minimum 
> >of external components required.  You even get a bunch of other neat 
> >stuff thrown in (USART, timers, ADC, etc.).  All in a 28 pin skinny 
> >DIP or QFN.

Interesting suggestion - we have a number of VME crates with CAN bus
capability - not the CPUs on the VME bus, the crates themselves... I
think it's used for environmental monitoring and control in this
application.

> I looked at that (Actually, I looked at AVR8 CAN variants), but I 
> thought I'd try to find an all C64 option for Sellam.  I like the uC 
> approach, as it offloads a lot of the networking from the main machine 
> (like the original ARPANET had those boxes that bridged the net to the 
> machine, can;t remember the term for them).

IMPs - Internet Message Procesors.  I'm blanking on the first generation
hardware, but later IMPs were PDP-11-based.

> I think Sellam preferred the C64 only approach so folks could replicate 
> it more easily.

Certainly, the less external hardware, the more likely someone else will
give it a go.  If the end result is an application that will run on, say,
eight C-64s, I might try it when I get home.  If it's more of a 32-minimum
or 64-minimum, that's a bit more hardware than I have access to.

-ethan

-- 
Ethan Dicks, A-333-S     Current South Pole Weather at 31-Jan-2008 at 20:20 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400       Temp  -39.5 F (-39.7 C)   Windchill   -61.9 F (-52.2 C)
APO AP 96598          Wind   6.8 kts Grid 353   Barometer 680.6 mb (10606 ft)

Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov            http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html