Home ➲ scratch disk ➲ core team: hardware
we are looking for an individual to be in charge of creating a list of final motherboard candidates.
Interested?
Sphere It. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
marzipanschwein Says:
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:05 pm
first of all, what about emg active-pickups and a schaller piezo bridge?
could it be possible to create free-to download cnc-mill data created with linux software?
i´m a 3d artist, so do you need a concrete visualisation?
graet project!
David Rowe Says:
April 19th, 2007 at 4:53 am
For your CPU can I suggest the Analog Devices Blackfin? It is a DSP chip that runs uClinux and is about 10x more powerful than an ARM or even low end x86 board.
Best of all, it has open hardware (that right, open hardware) designs available, for example the BlackfinOne:
http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=20
- David
XANi Says:
May 11th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Maybe something with programmable FPGA array, so you can add “hardware accerelation” to audio ?
Patrick Says:
June 6th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I like David’s idea of using a Blackfin DSP. I had first suggested a Gumstix board, but a Blackfin is probably much better at applying delays, feedback, filters and other effects.
Some single board computers exist for the Blackfin, here are a couple links I found:
http://www.phytec.com/products/sbc/Blackfin/phyCORE-Blackfin-BF537.html
http://www.bluetechnix.at/rainbow2006/site/products/core_modules/298/core_modules.aspx
Whichever way this goes, I really think that any embedded processor would be better for this device than a small form factor PC (right now they seem to be thinking about a AMD Geode). Using an embedded processor, it would be possible to use battery power (milliwatts instead of watts). Just carry your guitar, plug headphones in to it, and you can experiment and practice all you like – untethered.
Embedded processors would make the guitar cheaper too (Blackfin processors start at around $5).
Patrick Says:
June 11th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
As a follow-up on the previous post, I dug a little deeper to see if a Blackfin module would provide what is needed for this project.
I came to the conclusion that the Blackfin would make an excellent choice and that the BlueTechnix TCM-BF537 module would provide all the needed interfaces, even in the prototype-friendly border pads version. This thing is tiny (28×28mm), powerful (DSP @ 500MHz) and fairly inexpensive (63 Euro’s @ 100+ pieces). It could be combined with a fairly simple base board (two or three layer would probably do just fine) to provide the custom parts and interfaces for this project.
Linux is fully supported, see:
http://blackfin.uclinux.org/gf/
Info on driving an MMC/SD card for recording tracks:
http://docs.blackfin.uclinux.org/doku.php?id=mmc_driver
Info on driving a multi-channel audio codec:
http://docs.blackfin.uclinux.org/doku.php?id=ad1836a
Info on driving an LCD display:
http://docs.blackfin.uclinux.org/doku.php?id=tft-lcd_card
I think these, plus some general purpose I/O, would be all the pieces needed for this project.
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