On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:23:33 +0100, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:

"Rodney Myrvaagnes" wrote in message
.. .
The cheapest notebooks all have ethernet NICs in them. A PCI NIC is
under $15 retail nowadays.

You obviously do not get the point. A NIC for in a PC is a dumb device and
needs network drivers on the PC to operate. That is called the TCP/IP stack.
You cannot simply hook up a cheap NIC to a tiny microcontroller in an
instrument and expect it to run a TCP/IP stack. It simply does not have the
memory and the processing power for that. And indeed, it is also a matter of
numbers. PCI NIC are produced in much larger quantities than marine
instruments.

Meindert

I do get the point. A PIC-12 microcontroller (0.20 USD?) couldn't
handle the stack, but it wouldn't run most instruments either. If you
are spending, say 5 USD for the controller and memory, an incremental
increase in clock speed and memory, say 0.50, would easily accommodate
it. But not 15 year old parts.

I still think the long product cycle and small volume are the
determining factors, not the present day cost of the technology.

If a company as big as Furuno, already conscious of the value of
ethernet, sees a competitive advantage in adding it to existing
equipment, it will depend on what the current processor inside a
particular instrument is.

If the processor architecture is a still-developing family, they may
be able to add TCP/IP without changing the board design or the
firmware significantly. If it is some antique, like the 8085s I found
in some instruments (networked, BTW) on a boat I bought used in 1989,
It would probably require a total redesign, and they wouldn't do it
until such redesign is happening for other reasons.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"Religious wisdom is to wisdom as military music is to music."