Product Code |
Price (USD) |
Description |
FOX11 | $119 |
Includes 2xRS232 ports
and solderless breadboard (see the feature list below), but it does not
include LCD and keypad Students and schools are eligible for a $20.00 discount |
LCDKP USB232 |
$20 $14 |
16x2 LCD
module with backlight & 4x4 keypad (see LCDKP
kit below) USB to RS232 adapter |
***** How-to-order information is shown at the end of the home page *****
The $99.00 EVBplus2 68HC11 JR trainer (code name: FOX11) is
specially designed for students in the classroom environment.
Many colleges require students to buy their own trainers, so students can work off-campus and school is not responsible for maintenance of the trainers. In addition, this reduces lab manager's workload. It's a great idea, but the only problem is the cost because students first have to buy textbooks before buying trainers. Our EVBplus2 board is well received by many universities around the world as a piece of lab equipment, but some professors would like to have a $99.00 EVBplus2 board available before making their students buy their own trainers. That's precisely the reason the FOX11 has been born.
The FOX11 board combines and caters to many professors' ideas and suggestions, so it easily meets or exceeds the requirements of their courses and lab assignments. We have chosen one board approach instead of a modular approach for reliability and low cost. Although modular approach has its own merits, it is more suitable for extracurricular activities by more experienced users who have more trouble-shooting ability, such as a robot controller application.
When a board has more mechanic connections, then it will have less reliability. For a student, as a beginner, the course itself is already too hard to finish in a short semester, so why should he or she be responsible for trouble-shooting any unnecessary problems caused by more mechanical connections? Also, if you add all modules together to duplicate the functions that the FOX11 board offers, it will be way over your budget. Our trainer is not only a one-piece approach, but also is a perfectly sized board for a trainer. You need a small board, which does not occupy too much space on the bench. At the same time, it cannot be too small and without much weight. For example, if you move the RS232 cable a little bit accidentally, your whole project could move chaotically, even flipping everything over if the board is very small. You are quite lucky if you don't burn anything.
The
goal of the FOX11 trainer is to cover 5 most important hardware elements in the
68HC11 for educational purpose and also keep it affordable.
The 5 components namely SCI, SPI, Timer, ADC and external memory interface that
are very important subjects for students to learn are all covered by our FOX11
board.
On our FOX11 board, it has:
1.
Two RS232 ports with independent baud rates, one is for development work, the
other one is for user SCI application.
Image how hard to debug your code if your application uses the SCI of 68HC11?
What if your application needs a higher baud rate? It’s impossible to do it with
only one RS232 port.
2. A SPI header for communicating your external SPI device,
such as LED, LCD, relay and I/O expansion boards.
3. Eight LED indicators can be used for monitoring pulses that
are generated by timers. An on-board speaker can produce music or other
waveforms via timer system
4. A potentiometer can be used to adjust input voltage of an
Analog to Digital Converter channel.
5. A 40 pin female socket provides all address, data and
control signals for connecting external memory or I/O devices to learn 68HC11
memory interface in expanded mode.
This is a very important fundamental subject where the 68HC11 shines
comparing to other microcontrollers.
A female socket is easier than a male header for student connect signals
to an external memory or I/O chip on the breadboard via jumper wires.
There
is no such trainer with above features and also has 32K RAM, 32K EEPROM, 32K
EPROM and a large solderless breadboard for $99.00 on the market
today. The hardware is only a part of system.
The FOX11 board comes with 2 built-in monitors for different
teaching methods. They
are pre-installed in an on-chip EPROM. The
BUFFALO monitor is the default monitor, meaning the
board will start up with BUFFALO monitor. In BUFFALO monitor mode, a
professor does not have to change his teaching materials and lab
assignments. It works just like a regular Motorola EVB/EVBU board but
with a lot more on-board peripherals. In Wytec Monitor mode, it will
allow symbolic debugging, data watch, and many unique features that
will surprise you.
The price includes 32K RAM, 32K EPROM, 32K EEPROM, a large solderless breadboard, a 6 foot RS232 cable and a 110V AC adapter ( US, Mexico and Canada orders only)
With a 4x4 keypad and a 16x2 LCD display module, the FOX11 board is a complete development system at a very reasonable price.