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Oct. 10, 2006

Technologic continues to reduce the boot time, price, and size of its embedded boards and systems targeting remote sensing and other power-critical applications. Its new $100 ARM9-based TS-7400 board can boot Linux in 1.1 seconds, and is available as part of a tiny WiFi-enabled system.

(Click for larger view of TS-7400-based TS-WiFiBox)

Last month, Technologic announced that its earlier TS-7300 board could boot Linux in 1.69 seconds, loading an initrd kernel and read-only NAND flash filesystem, before executing a shell. Such speed is especially useful in solar-powered remote sensing applications, where the board might only need to awaken once every five minutes to read a few sensors, before falling asleep again. "Even at 1.69 seconds, 99 percent of your power was spent by Linux and firmware bootup boilerplate, and not your code," Technologic spokesperson Ronald Gomes said at the time.

Now, the company has shipped a new hardware platform -- the TS-7400 -- that can boot even faster, thanks to a hardware-accelerated NAND controller and hardware ECC (error checking/correction) unit, it says. The TS-7400 is also smaller and less expensive than the earlier TS-7300, by virtue of a "system-on-module" design.

The TS-7400, front and back
(Click each view to enlarge)
The TS-7400 is based on a Cirrus EP9302, a system-on-chip (SoC) that features an ARM920T core clocked at 200 MHz, a "MaverickCrunch" math engine, and an MMU (memory management unit), enabling full-fledged OSes such as Linux and Windows CE.

The TS-7400 comes standard with 32MB each of SDRAM and NAND flash, with capacities up to 128MB optionally available. Storage is expandable through an SD card socket said to support cards up to 4GB.

I/O includes a 10/100 Ethernet port, two USB 2.0-compatible OHCI ports (12Mbps max, one port on a pin header), and a 40-pin header that provides three serial ports, four A/D channels, 20 DIOs, AC97/I2S audio, and an SPI bus.

TS-9441 dev board
(Click to enlarge)

Optional features include a Linux-supported USB-based 802.11g WiFi transceiver, onboard temperature sensor, a battery-backed RTC (real-time clock), and a development baseboard (pictured at right).

TS-WiFiBox

The TS-7400 is available pre-assembled, and preinstalled with Linux, as the "TS-WiFiBox." (pictured top-of-page). In addition to the TS-7400 SBC, the WiFiBox includes a rugged aluminum enclosure measuring 1.1 x 4.9 x 3.1 inches, and a USB-based WiFi card with drivers and packages for Linux.

Availability

The TS-7400 SBC is available now, priced at $100 in quantities of 100, according to Technologic. The TS-9441 development baseboard costs $125. Complete TS-WiFiBox systems are available now, priced at $250 in single quantities.

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