Hi All
To all users of the NE64 who do not know about the uTasker yet, there is a new interesting document available at the following link which you may find interesting (also those who do know it but are not yet signed up users).
It is a tutorial for the new version, based on the DEMO9S12NE64 board, including all set up, downloading and debug tools required. The simulator works without the target board, allowing the simulated NE64 project to run in real time - the demo project includes a useful web server application which will run on the network.
Reading the tutorial should give a clear picture of what it can do so I won't write more details here. The demo project supports CodeWarrior [Lite version adequate since TCP/IP stack is very compact], IAR and GNU projects for anyone interested in comparisons, including a compare of the project and different IP protocol code sizes (comparison in document above).
If you are doing non-commercial projects (educational, hobby) then the uTasker is available free, including free email support so don't worry. Check out the licensing terms at the following link and simply request an educational licence (valid for hobby work) to join the growing uTasker community.
As you may know, freescale has just introduced the new Coldfire MCF5223x processors which are effectively footprint compatiable to the NE64 (including EMAC and EPHY) and the uTasker port is underway to this device. This means that any NE64 project using the NE64 will also later run on the new Coldfire by compiling for the new target with the predefined uTasker Coldfire project. Expect the uTasker for Coldfire to be available in about early June 2006.
Don't be shy, there are no catches - just a fun operating system and TCP/IP stack using a practical real-time simulator. You may be surprised what it can do...
Best regards