Re: Ada's Slide To Oblivion ...

["Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org>]

Yes - SBC means "Single Board Computer".

You're thinking too big if you're thinking about rocket ships and all that.
An SBC typically will have a few discrete lines and a/d - d/a converters on
board and usually some communication links like UARTs or Ethernet. You use
the board to control a bunch of other things - switches, stepper motors,
what have you. The SBC rides along with some other electronics to do some
limited job - like run an irrigation pump out in the field or control an air
conditioner for maximum efficiency. You could (and in many places do) use
them (in some form) in a rocket or railroad - it just depends on exactly
what needs to be done and where you want to locate the "smarts".

Typically, you get a development version of the board with additional
hardware making it possible to program it from a PC. Along with the
development board, you get development software that will include a
compiler, debugging tools, etc.

Just a few examples:

http://www.pc104.org/
http://www.pc104.com/
http://www.zworld.com/
http://www.compulab.co.il/486core.htm

MDC

--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Larry Kilgallen" <Kilgallen@SpamCop.net> wrote in message
news:Bqo0YdSM4fq$@eisner.encompasserve.org...
> In article <3C598CBD.71740E0D@gbr.msd.ray.com>, Steve O'Neill
<oneils@gbr.msd.ray.com> writes:
>
> I don't understand much about this, so please explain.
> I presume SBC stands for "single board computer", sort of an industrial
> Heathkit with all the soldering done.
>
> So what good is an SBC to someone building a rocket ship or a subway ?
> They aren't really going to build it with SBCs in the production units,
> are they ?