[lug] Ethernet Enabled PLC/Linux Microcontroller

[Ben]

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 7:27 AM, Swavek Skret <swavek.skret at gmail.com 
<mailto:swavek.skret at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I need to control a hardware unit that does not have a standard
>     interface (ethernet, RS-232, etc) but simply provides a binary
>     voltage to flag that it functions correctly or not. I am
>     considering using an ethernet enabled microcontroller with Linux
>     OS ideally.
>
I'm not sure if this helps, but if the signal is a simple as 2 voltages 
being binary, then (if needed) you can use a comparator to convert that 
output into nice digital logic and read it with, well anything. A 
microcontroller with linux seems like overkill if that's all you need to 
do. Any microcontroller / PIC can read an IO line. What do you want to 
do this this information? If you just want to turn on an LED, then you 
can just use a transistor (no processor or anything). If you want to 
tell a computer over ethernet, then you might be looking at more 
complicated microprocessors. There are a lot of PIC's that do low-speed 
usb out there that might be useful.

Ben