Creating a new ARM/AVR platform

[Icarus Alive]

Jacob,

Based on what I've read so far, I believe what your co. has set out to do
has probably been done a few hundred times (thousands, might be more
appropriate).
Monitoring server room and controlling relays, as many others have
mentioned is now so easy that apparently Artists are expected to be able to
do it... well, at least, in theory.
Please read a little about Arduino. There a zillion avatars of that tiny
8-bit micro-controller based development boards, including some that are
quite close to being used as a product.

If you want to use IP communication, over ethernet, even that is possible,
for as long as your protocol is not too complex, and you do not expect high
data throughput.
And, you do not need Linux... not even an RTOS (Real-Time OS) for that.
Just a program that handles a bunch of Interrupts (possibly) and a main
loop running a state-machine. Based on what you would like to monitor, how
many sensors, and how many relays, there are various solutions. Today,
there is a concept of Open-source Hardware, where schematics and
manufacturing files of plug-n-play modules are available, apart from the
Arduino concept of shields, which are ready-to-use plug-n-play modules,
that you just buy off-the-shelf.

Liam, has provided excellent suggestions already. If you are very keen on
taking the Linux route, there are several options ranging from ARM9
processor Single-Board-Computers (Olimex, mini2440 etc.) to ARM Cortex-A8
board (Beagleboard, Beaglebone, IGEP, Pandaboard...). To read sensors, if
they are on/off sensors you can use the General-Purpose I/O pins (GPIO) as
digital I/O pins, but if your sensors provide analog output, you need ADC
capability on board. Controlling relays are again done using GPIO pins.
Linux does provide the ability to control GPIO pins, but typically you need
to enable that functionality when building the Kernel.

Note that, with an Intel Atom board, unless it is custom developed board,
which I think is going to be unlikely, you guys would need to build some
peripheral devices that use interfaces s.a. USB, or simpler interfaces like
I2C or SPI, to in turn talk to the array of relays and sensors. Those
peripherals would require writing custom drivers, unless you use
off-the-shelf peripherals.

Most of the time, you'd see that you are in the realm of embedded software
development, and if you are just dipping your toe in that domain, remember
that there is a learning curve, although this thread does have quite a bit
of condensed information.

It might serve you well to read up about these --
1) Arduino + Arduino Ethernet shield
2) Pachube
3) Arduino Relay shield

Note that an Arduino itself can serve as a very easy-to-integrate
peripheral for your Atom based PC, talking to it over USB (in fact, serial
port emulation over USB). This is possible on PC running Ubuntu, and in
fact the PC I am writing from, running Ubuntu, already has an Arduino
connected to it right at this moment :-), which is controlling an offboard
relay that restarts my wireless router whenever there is a freeze-up of my
internet connection !

cheers,
Icarus

On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 11:30 PM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 29 February 2012 17:41, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 29 February 2012 17:32, Jacob Mansfield <cyberjacob at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> We're moving more into the region of information that I cannot disclose,
> >> but I will do my best to answer
> >>
> >> On 29 Feb 2012, at 17:26, Liam Proven wrote:
> >>
> >> all of the above
> >
> > OK, so not a very very low-end system, then.
>
> Although if you do want to do something "different", here is a VERY
> small ARM system:
>
> http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/cubox-is-a-sexy-ice-cube-sized-arm-computer-20111221/
>
> Or use Raspberry Pi, of course. ;¬)
>
> --
> Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
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