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Flash memory module maker SMART Modular Technologies, Inc. is now offering an inexpensive, easy-to-use programmer's development kit for its extensive line of Flash SIMM modules. Requiring only a parallel printer port, the kit turns any notebook or desktop PC into a complete flash development system. Targeted primarily at developers of flash-based systems that have no write capability, the developer's kit is an enabling tool that permits users to gain the full benefits of SMART's new generation of Flash SIMMs.
SMART furnishes the developer's kit with an external PCMCIA reader/writer that attaches to the parallel port of any computer.
The key piece of hardware in the development kit is a card with a PCMCIA interface in Type II format on one end and two kinds of 80-pin Flash SIMM connectors on the other end. One connector is for industry-standard JEDEC 80-pin Flash SIMMs, and the other is for 80-pin Flash SIMMs with an alternate pinout.
The SMART developer's kit simplifies what would otherwise be a long, laborious process requiring a lot of expensive equipment. The combination of the kit with any host computer permits standard Flash SIMM modules to provide the full benefits of non-volatility while permitting the user to modify or completely change the module's stored code. The kit can therefore significantly reduce time and cost in developing code for embedded systems, allowing the user to get the end product to market faster. The development kit enables the user to upgrade resident software programs or other code without replacing the devices that contain them.
There is a whole host of people in the industry who want to use Flash SIMMs in embedded controllers and other types of systems but do not have provisions to write to them. Writing to flash memory can be a bit more difficult than writing to DRAMs or SRAMs because flash devices require special algorithms. Reading from flash devices, however, is as easy as reading from any RAM device.
The kit includes all necessary software. The user only needs to convert the 32-bit-wide file for the Flash SIMM into one 16-bit-wide file to accommodate the PCMCIA data bus width to program the Flash SIMM, but this conversion is very easy for engineers to make. The kit's adapter card permits the user to make jumper settings to accommodate various module densities and module types.
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