Windows CE 2.0 ready for launch

Electronic News, Sept 29, 1997 by Jim DeTar

San Jose, Calif.--Microsoft will launch version 2.0 of its Window CE operating system for embedded systems on Tuesday, here, at Embedded Systems Conference '97 West--a move that will in turn serve as a launching pad for a host of portable systems running Windows CE 2.0 to be rolled out at Comdex Fall '97 in Las Vegas (Nov. 17-21). Sharing the spotlight at ESC West will be the IBM/Motorola PowerPC group which will introduce a new PowerPC for embedded systems as it tries to find refuge in the embedded sector its prospects for finding a home on the desktop arena dim. (See story on page )

According to sources on the MIPS team, MIPS Technologies will announce at the Embedded Systems Conference that it and its partners have agreed to a specification and implementation for third-party tools that will become public shortly, to be called E-JTAG (Enhanced JTAG), a superset of the IEEE 1149.1 testability standard. In addition, MIPS sources said the MIPS team is also working to provide a common debugger. MIPS Technologies is chairing that committee and plays the role of facilitator.

ESC West also promises to be another donnybrook between x86 and RISC microprocessor and microcontroller architectures as Intel will continue to push its x86 architecture further into the embedded space, while a start-up board designer, Cell Computing, unveils its first product, a credit card-sized Pentium motherboard which it will bill as "the world's smallest PC."

Intel will demonstrate an embedded processor module evaluation board, housed in plexiglass. The module, to be powered by a 133MHz Pentium processor with voltage reduction technology and an Intel 82430 HX PCIset chipset, will provide a high frequency design ready-made for OEMs. In addition, look for Intel to showcase its MMX multimedia technology in the Pentium processor-based Clean Screen, originally developed by Planar Systems and recently upgraded with increased speed and enhanced graphical user interface (GUI).

i960 Still Contender

Intel will also try to demonstrate that its aging i960 RISC architecture is still a contender with a full-motion video that will be broadcast over a ForeRunnerLE 155 ATM workgroup switch based on an i960Hx processor. The workgroup switch will support voice, data, video and multimedia applications, as well as supplying redundant, modular capabilities.

An Intel partner, start-up Cell Computing, will introduce a credit card-sized Pentium motherboard called the P55EZ. Cell, which is backed by PFU Ltd., a joint venture of Fujitsu and Matsushita, used several patent-pending technologies to reduce the motherboard size to 3.4x2.1x0.8 inches. Currently, Cell is reselling PFU products, but Cell is hiring engineers and plans to develop its own product line, according to Henri Uehara, Cell's president. In an interview, Mr. Uehara said that PFU had no sales presence outside of Japan and Cell stepped in to fill that gap in the U.S.

"Japanese companies are more engineering-driven than marketing. We're trying to meld American marketing with the technology of PFU," Mr. Uehara said.

The tiny P55EZ motherboard, also called a CardPC, runs standard operating systems such as Windows CE, contains a 166MHz Pentium MMX processor, 256 kilobytes of secondary cache, 8MB of DRAM (expandable to 72MB), 512KB of flash memory, superVGA/LCD controller and other elements needed for an embedded system. The P55EZ is available priced at $999 in quantities of 1,000 units. A 133MHz Pentium without MMX version, the P54EZ, is $799.

Mitsubishi's Entries

In the RISC camp again, in addition to the IBM/Motorola embedded PowerPC chip and more i960, Mitsubishi will take the wraps off a combination of the second-generation eRAM (enhanced DRAM)-enabled M32R/D and new peripheral I/O ASICs for embedded systems. Originally introduced in March 1996, the M32R/D implements a microprocessor and DRAM together in the same process technology, and is expected to be one of the first MPU-DRAM combination chips to achieve volume production.

At ESC West, Mitsubishi will debut an embedded systems integrated chipset targeting personal digital assistants (PDAs), Internet phones, digital cameras and other handheld, portable applications. In an interview, Eric Nguyen, advanced technology marketing manager for Mitsubishi Electronics America, said the company has 10 customers for the eRAM-enabled M32R/D.

"Right now, we're trying to popularize the term eRAM. Using this concept designers can combine, or superintegrate, everything into one," Mr. Nguyen said. "Mitsubishi right now is the only company in the world that integrates memory, logic and CPU onto one chip. You see a lot of announcements about embedded DRAM without the CPU. We're the only one that can integrate the CPU at this point." The first two peripheral I/O ASICs, the M65439 and M65455 are available in 176-pin TQFP packages priced at $10 and $12 each, respectively, in 10,000-unit quantities

Providing a roadmap to future eRAM developments, Mr. Nguyen said in 1998 the company will move to 64-megabit DRAM, 150MHz internal operation, 0.5- to 1 million logic gates, 2.5 volt-3V power supply, and 200 MIPS rated, 32-bit RISC M32R CPU core, as well as implementing the Motorola ColdFire core on its processors. By the year 2000, Mitsubishi plans to offer 256M DRAM, 250MHz internal operation, 2 to 4 million logic gates, 1.8-2.5V power supply and up to 500 MIPS rated M32R core CPU.