Credit Card-Size PC Comes With USB

Cell Computing, Inc. is shipping a 233 megahertz (MHz) CardPC micro-motherboard with Universal Serial Bus (USB) expansion capability. The credit card-sized device is sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for embedded or highly mobile designs. The 233 MHz CardPC uses a low-power Intel 233 MHz Mobile Pentium processor with MMX technology. It supports USB transfer rates up to 12 megabits per second.

The AT-compatible system has a mobile Pentium CPU, Intel chipset, Trident Cyber9320 PCI graphics controller with one megabyte (MB) of video RAM, National Semiconductor Super input/output (I/O) chip, two serial ports, one parallel port, one USB port, up to 128 MB of dynamic RAM, industry-standard Phoenix BIOS with power management features and interfaces for LCD and CRT.

Henri Uehara, Cell Computing president, said, "OEMs can now offer almost infinite flexibility for mobile and embedded designs. USB enables CardPC-based designs to be even smaller, compatible with hardware from over 500 companies." He added, "No DIP switches, IRQ settings, COM ports or DMA channels need to be changed for USB peripherals." The entire micro-motherboard measures just 3.4 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.5 inches and dissipates under 9.5 watts. The firm says it scores 263 on the CPUMark16 and 234 on the CPUMark32 benchmarks.

Cell Computing's target market for the CardPCs includes ruggedized notebooks and tablets, wearable PCs, portable test equipment, aircraft instrumentation, network-based equipment control, compact embedded Web servers and other systems that need full compatibility with popular general purpose desktop operating systems like Windows 95, 98, CE, NT, and Linux. The CardPC is also supported by real-time operating systems from Microware, VenturCom, Integrated Systems, Lynx and Phar Lap, among others.

In addition, the USB-enabled 233 MHz micro-motherboards are compatible with the firm's single-board computers and development tools, including the 4-inch by 5.75-inch Mighty Mite single-board computer. USB capabilities are also available with the firm's Mighty Mite ISA-based single-board computer. In a separate announcement, Cell Computing and Advanced Visual Systems Inc. (AVS) said they have embedded data visualization technology on the Card PC. The embedded AVS Express application can be used for purposes like test and measurement equipment, military display systems, medical devices and network monitors -- in short, for systems that collect and display visual data to support analysis and decision-making equipment.

Cell Computing is on the World Wide Web at http://www.cellcomputing.com .

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