Hardware Architecture Questions:
2.1. Q - What hardware does the software support?
A - Currently, our software only supports the M8722NF Board. However, we also provide a
patched version of the Microchip Stack (V2.20.01.01)which can be used, instead of our
software.
2.2. Q - Is the Microchip PICDEM.net board supported?
A - The Microchip board is not currently supported. The main problem is that the 18F452 MCU
(used by the PICDEM.net) does not have enough resources for the GS3 software.
However, it might be possible to support a scaled down version. We have not tested this.
2.3. Q - How many timers are supported and used?
A - The 18F8722 MCU has 5 timers(0-4). When the software uses NTP and local
synchronization, we use 4 timers(0-3).
TIMER0 - Is the multitasking timer.
TIMER1 - Is the Real Time Clock(RTC) timer.
TIMER2 - Is used as the 1PPS pulse generator.
TIMER3 - Is used as the system clock timer.
The time sync module is the biggest user of timers.
2.4. Q - How many I/O lines are free?
A - The following ports and I/O lines are free:
PORTA - 5
PORTB - 3,5
PORTC - 0,1
PORTE - 7
PORTF - 5,6,7
PORTG - 0,1,2,3,4
PORTJ - 0-7
PORTH - 0-7
2.5. Q - How do I access the I/O ports and lines which are free?
A - All the I/O lines and I2C bus are accessed from the I/O connectors on the right side of the
board.
The development board (MBDEV-A) has a breakout section for all free I/O pins.
