With all the recent Xmos development boards coming out I thought it would be a good idea to compile a comparison list. The full list is here (pdf) but a quick comparison of those boards costing less than $100 is shown below:
| Feature | Xmos
XC-1 |
Xmos
XK-1 |
Sparkfun
XS1-L1 64 |
| Cost | $99.00 | $99.00** | $49.95 |
| Processor | XS1-G4 | XS1-L1 | XS1-L1 |
| # Pins | 512 | 128 | 64 |
| # Cores | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Max MIPS | 1600 MIPS | 400 MIPS | 400 MIPS |
| Memory – RAM | 4x 64Kx8 | 64Kx8 | 64Kx8 |
| SPI Flash | 0 | 512Kx8 | 128Kx8 |
| User I/O | 60 I/O | 24 I/O | 32 I/O |
| User Interfaces | USB | none | USB |
| User LED’s | 12 | 4 | 2 |
| User Switches | 4 | 2 | none |
| Programming I/F | via USB | JTAG | JTAG |
| XSYS I/F | none | 2 | 1 |
| Other I/F | Speaker | none | none |
| Board Size | 85 x 54mm | 50 x 50mm | 84 x 64mm |
** Includes Xmos XTAG2 USB-JTAG programming adapter (costs $50)
This is a great comparison table. I am sure many will find this useful!
Thanks Jason. I’ll try and keep it up date with the latest Xmos and other third party Xmos developments
Update: Our new site has been launched! XCore.com! The place to be if you are developing stuff with XMOS technology!
I have been playing with my XK-1 board for a few days. It is really amazing. Now I want to talk to it via USB. It appears there is no way to do through the JTAG. The Sparkfun board appears to be sort of broken too.
What is the easiest way? Should I use the Sparkfun FT232R breakout board?
Yeah I agree with you the Xmos chips and boards are pretty amazing.
Yes, using something like the Sparkfun FT232R breakout board can add a USB connection to a Xmos board. You will need to connect the Rx and Tx from the FT232R to their own 1-bit ports on the XC1 and write (or copy) the UART XC functions. The book “Programming XC on XMOS Devices” on the Xmos website has a UART example from pages 21 onwards.
Thanks, I probably would have used the XMOSlinkers site, but they had a cookie issue over the weekend that would not let me join.
The Sparkfun breakout board has the option to use 3.3V or 5V. The I/O connectors have 5V, but the XMOS is 3.3V. Should I just stick with the 5V because the XMOS is 5V compliant or find another way to get the 3.3V
Checking the Sparkfun webpage for the FT232R
So I’m guessing the FT232R I/O is already at 3.3V.
Why did you buy the Sparkfun board when you can get the Xmos board? It appears that you don’t have to buy the JTAG interface with the XMOS board (makes up for the price) and you are getting more mips, more cores, more pins, and more memory except for SPI Flash. Wouldn’t that deliver more power for your X-One?
Anyway, the X-One looks like a project worth following.
I have a few Xmos boards: a XC-2, a XK-1 and a Sparkfun XS1-L1 64 board so I already had the XTAG2 JTAG interface.
On the X-DTV design, I included an XLINK interface to allow more XS1-L1 devices to be added as daughter boards.