RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] net-enabled microcontrollers for appliances, VCRs, stereos

["Spurling, Shannon" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

 Okay, I think I know what you are talking about, and it's not $1.00,
it's around $8 (I think) in quantitys of 1000. I believe it is made by
NEC, and it requires a MCU in order to work... A $10 PIC MCU is listed
in the datasheet. When I first read the marketing blurb, I thought it
was stand alone. All it does is create TCP packets from the data you
send it. Now, I could be off on the manufacturer and price, I'm going
off memory here, but I clearly remember the application note. It
involved three other descrete components for the sample application, in
addition to the resistor capacitors and diodes needed. The three parts
were the PIC, the TCP encoder/serial UART, and theMAX232 to provide the
56K uplink. First off, no chip company makes a one chip ethernet
encoder, because there are two seperate tasks to be done, and depending
on the application, they might be different. If a chip company makes a
single chip ethernet solution, it's for a specific contracted short run
application. And it would probably be something based on combining masks
from their two comercial components that were used to prototype the
application.
So, first off, I'm not paying an increase of $20 a jug more for milk.
And second, I'm not going to run a fiber pair or Cat5 to my groceries.
The web enabled VCR would be fine, but isn't that a TVIO type
appliance/service? Remember, who ever makes the web enabled
entertainment components is going to fight furiously to make you use
their data service. Remember the CueCat? If I buy Prairie Farms Milk,
will it be compatable with the central dairy interface I got with my
fridge? Something to think about. Besides, I don't want Evil Angelica
hacking my fridge and spoiling my milk because they installed WINCE on
it. It's just not needed!

Shannon 

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael
To: EMAIL:PROTECTED
Sent: 12/2/01 3:04 PM
Subject: Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] net-enabled microcontrollers for
appliances, VCRs, stereos

> And where are they?  Who manufactures them?  I haven't seen any,
> personally.  Show me a link to a datasheet, and maybe I'll believe
> you.  And by the way, a network card is far less complex than an
> embedded web server thing.  A NIC hooks right into the PCI bus, which
> already does most of the work for it.  A VCR neither has a PCI bus nor
> a CPU which can control the NIC.  You would have to put in an extra
> microcontroller, program it

If I feel energetic I'll try to find my bookmark to the site that sells
them. I looked breifly but couldn't find it. Bookmarks are such a pain
when you get hundreds or thousands. And the web servers are cheap
because
they only do what they have to.. essentially providing an http interface
to whatever data your gadget already provides. They are made only for
embedded use. You couldn't run like Google off one. A couple different
companies make flavors of these ultra-lite webservers now. Again if I
feel
motivated I'll look for them. I'm feeling lazy right now.

> Where have you seen those chips?  I really want to order a few if they
are 
> that cheap.

The printed circuits on paper? They don't yet have a printed web server
that I know of but I think they would be pretty easy to do and are bound
to show up. Other circuits printed on paper get used in disposable
places
already though so we do know it works.

> Then why aren't there VCRs with network interfaces? The closest I've
seen is 
> a cable modem with a webserver.  But those things cost about two times
as 
> much as a VCR, for "cheap" electronics.

VCR's suck and so do VCR makers? There might be a web-enabled VCR for
all
I know but I don't have one. Shouldn't be to hard to make though. Price
something is sold for has almost nothing to do with how much it cost to
make. Manufacturers often breif sales people that a given product is
exactly the same between the cheap model and the expensive model except
the expensive model has a feature turned on. My favorite was a digital
camera I usda sale.. hooking power to the cameras main IC at the right
spot would let the camera double the resolution. Probably cost less than
a
penny to activate per camera but they charged $100 more.

> I haven't seen a wired VCR yet - probably due to two reasons:
> 1. The technology is not mainstream yet
The technology is mainstream, products that use the technology are not
mainstream yet. Companies don't release products the second a technology
is available.. they have to convince mgmt it's a good idea, do user
studies, design, make, test, market, etc.

> 2. It's not cost-effective.
*shrugs* It doesn't cost much. The cardboard box the units are shipped
in
probably cost as much.

> 3. Nobody wants them
> I can't say that reason #3 is valid, since there would be at least one
model 
> of a VCR that had it built in.  There isn't a single thing that does
it and 
> is mainstream.

Could be a reason. It isn't the type of feature that is likely to be
well
understood in most user studies. Anyway the VCR idea was just an
example. Most people geeky enough for a web enabled VCR would probably
want a TiVo or something. On the other hand multipurpose remotes are
popular.. if devices shared a common interface to such remotes there
could
be a decent business in it.

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