Hi, I am looking for a replacement/feel alike for the (sadly) long time ago discontinued Mountaineer Ethernet boards (https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/385). It’s OK if it’s not Gadgeteer (although I do like the connectors) but I would really like to be able to keep using my NETMF code base/base library knowlegde/ease of use.
Am I missing something, or is there nothing available (aside from the development boards which are too large/costly) that is NETMF and has onboard Ethernet?
On the G30 TH page, it says it’s not able to do networking, but on the G30 develop page, there seems to be something that looks like a RJ45 connector. If so, what are the minimum requirements/parts list in order to do reliable networking using G30 TH or G80 TH?
edited my post for correctness, thanks for the QC job!
GHI, the table with tick marks against features in [url]https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/netmf[/url] is misleading in the G120/G120E situation It’s not until you go into a G120 or G120E that the “the difference” text is clear about the PHY
I am looking for single-board solution, at least for the microcontroller and the Ethernet RJ45 port. I will add some peripherals on a use-case basis.
So, is it planned to have a through-hole version (or anything else less “soldering-fiddly” than SoM) of the G120E chipset that features an Ethernet/RJ45 connector built-on?
Well, I was expecting that GHI wouldn’t offer a Cobra IV.Net given the Cobra II.Net went on the endangered list some time ago and Cobra III is netless. But I agree
@ glx - would you care to share a picture of that? From what I can see on the store picture, the contacts look quite cozy… did you also connect it to a RJ45?
I just used the G120 (without “E”, because I use WiFi) on a custom PCB (there’s a picture below) it’s completely hand-soldered (except the USB-jacks, they are not nice to solder, they were done with a cheap hot-air (very cheap, so I didn’t want so solder anything else with it)) :). I had a G400 for testing, there was the only needet thing a RJ45-Jack with magnetics) no other external components for Ethernet :).
@ glx - this looks quite good! Is that a gadgeteer socket on there? Is it possible to solder it with moderate soldering skills?
I gave it some more thought and I think this is more accurate for what I’m looking for: A NETMF chip on a board that comes soldered with (order by prority):
USB (for deploy/debugging)
RJ45 Ethernet Jack
Easy access to GPIOs (preferably through-hole or jumper pins)
3.3V (or whatever chip voltage) regulator preferably fed from USB
Reset button
In the end I’d like to have a small footprint but general-purpose NETMF IoT device that can be used for many things.
One of the first use cases will be a model railway control panel. The last one I’ve built consists of the Mountaineer Ethernet board and two MaxO for driving the leds. There are also some push buttons that are wired to cut gadgeteer cables. Its all relatively simple in terms of IO, and the one big plus point is the plug-and-play Ethernet on board.
It’s not that hard to solder, I have a 1.2mm “screwdriver-like” tip (sorry I don’t know the correct english word :D). I think there’s also a TechTalk-Video about SoMs where Gus demonstrates how to solder them :).
Yes, it’s a Gadgeteer-Socket, it has I2C, 3.3V, 5V and an analog-input pin. There’s also a 3.3V switching power supply on the board (a LM3671, it’s also very simple to use with almost no external components. You only need a resistor, a inductor and two caps).
Maybe a Spider II board would be a good choice, you can simply connect a J11-Module and reuse the things you already have inside your train-controller.
The G30 Development board comes with a WizNet 5500 chip which communicates via SPI2 to control it.
It has a TCP/IP stack and sockets built in hardware.
I am working on a managed code version right now, should have it wrapped up in a week or so.
When it is going I will post here.
It’s not until you go into a G120 or G120E that the “the difference” text is clear about the PHY