James wrote:
> Hi! I was assigned to design a DSP board using Blackfin, do you have any
> tips/suggestion where should I starts from? I have done a few
> microcontroller design before, but have never done anything about DSP.
> Is it similar in hardware design for DSP?

Hi James,

You can look at the designs available at blackfin.uclinux.org. They are
all GPL'ed designs. Please do not forget to read the terms of the GPL.
There is a nice 2 layer board called BlackfinOne (bf1 project in the
blackfin.uclinux.org website) which may be a starting point for your
design.

Good luck.

cheers
Ramakrishnan

James wrote:
> Hi! I was assigned to design a DSP board using Blackfin, do you
> have any tips/suggestion where should I starts from? I have done
> a few microcontroller design before, but have never done anything
> about DSP.

In that case, you might be wise to start with an embeddable DSP
module, such as the DSM-BF533 from Kaztek:

   http://www.kaztek.com/dsm.htm

Once you've got the bugs worked out of the rest of the system,
then you can separately address the question of whether you want
to elminate the daughtercard and migrate the DSP and memory chips
onto your main board.

-- Dave Tweed

James wrote:
> Hi! I was assigned to design a DSP board using Blackfin, do you have any 
> tips/suggestion where should I starts from? I have done a few 
> microcontroller design before, but have never done anything about DSP. 
> Is it similar in hardware design for DSP?

Given the reason I assume for your wise decision to ask, you have a long 
row to hoe. Can you consider a commercial board, perhaps with add-ons?

I don't know how many pieces you plan to produce or, but if fewer than 
1000, $500/purchased board will be cheaper.  I don't know when this 
needs to work, but if that is closer to "soon" than to "some day", you 
don't really have a choice.

In addition to make the processor work, you need to build some way to 
debug it. How do you propose to debug _that_?

My Blackfin EZkit Lite cost $99 on a special promotion. It communicates 
with my PC via USB that works without my having to know in detail how. 
The supplied software and the USB link allows me to examine and alter 
registers and memory.

There are plenty of people capable of doing what you want, just as there 
  are plenty of people who can climb Mont Blanc. Those people have the 
equipment and experience to make the risks acceptable. Do you?

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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James wrote:

> Hi! I was assigned to design a DSP board using Blackfin, do you have any 
> tips/suggestion where should I starts from? I have done a few 
> microcontroller design before, but have never done anything about DSP. 
> Is it similar in hardware design for DSP?
> 
> Many thanks!
> 
> James.

The fact that you have to ask at all is very worrisome.  If you 
understand the issues you don't have to ask, and you'll be successful. 
If you don't understand the issues you won't be successful, at least not 
without a lot of work.

If you've been putting down MPC860s with SDRAM and ethernet, and now you 
need to put down a simple Blackfin, then you don't need to ask.

If you've been putting down 8051's that are clocked at 4MHz and 
struggling to get them to work, and now you're tasked with putting down 
a Blackfin with a PCI interface that you need to make work at 66MHz -- 
start sweating.

If you really want an answer to your question I suggest you do two things:

1.  Crosspost (_don't_ multiple post) your question to 
sci.electronics.design.  You're really asking an electronic design 
question at this point, not a DSP algorithm question.

2.  Give more detail about (a) what you've done and (b) what you need to 
do.  Not just "microcontroller" vs. "DSP", but chip types, clock speeds, 
peripherals, etc.  Your biggest opportunity for greater difficulties 
lies in making a board design that will take care of a processor with 
higher clock rates -- and such answers aren't easy to fit in the space 
of a newsgroup post.

-- 

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Posting from Google?  See http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/

"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" came out in April.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

Hi! I was assigned to design a DSP board using Blackfin, do you have any 
tips/suggestion where should I starts from? I have done a few 
microcontroller design before, but have never done anything about DSP. 
Is it similar in hardware design for DSP?

Many thanks!

James.