Specifications

development boards combined with TCP/IP development kits exceed US$500. And this
is only for the networking side of the project. The obvious alternative is the Ethernut
project.
Figure 6 Ethernut development kit [9]
With a free OS, TCP/IP environment and hardware design for a development kit, it
provides the most attractive solution. It is possible to manufacture the hardware from
the design they freely supply and they manufacture the kits for sale. It is important to
consider the long term development of the product. At this stage of development it is
more suitable to buy a working tested version but in long term production it would be
far cheaper to manufacture all the components and this can easily done with the
Ethernut. The bare PCB can be purchased for $US15 or the whole thing constructed,
tested and delivered to Australia for AUD$295. The low cost and my familiarity in
working with Atmels were two important factors in the choice of the Ethernut.
However, the main reason for choosing this solution was not for its hardware
implementation but for the software environment that surrounds it. Software will be
outlined in Chapter 5.
4.2.4 Does the Ethernut fulfil the requirements?
The fact that the Ethernut is very low cost and provides an easy development
environment can not only make it suitable for this project, it must also be able to meet
the technical specifications.
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