EAS Finger Board II is our latest version of our 68HC11 based mini controller board for robotics and interface projects. Finger Board II was created as a compact general purpose embedded controller to be used for robotics, data logging, smart instruments, and custom control applications. It can run Interactive C and emulates many of the hardware functions of “Handy Board” by MIT. Motor functions as well as push buttons were left out of the design to keep it small, simple and versatile. All functions of the “Handy Board” can be added via expansion board, circuits of older “Rug warrior” designs as well. The Finger Board II uses very common parts and a low parts count to keep costs down. All mating contacts are spaced .1″ apart to allow the Finger Board II to plug on top of standard prototyping boards. The Finger Board II comes as two separate circuit boards, the CPU board and the RS232 Communications board. It also can be ordered as a single board if size is not an issue.
For those who are interested, here’s a schematic of our Finger Board II in Acrobat PDF format.
Finger Board Manual in Acrobat PDF format.
Online assembly manual. This page may take awhile to load due to the many images.
Some interface circuits in Acrobat PDF format. For those who want to add the missing Handy Boards circuits to the Finger Board II.
More interface circuits in Acrobat PDF format. Circuits to add additional I/O to the Finger Board II.
Images showing how to construct a expansion board.
Frequently Asked Questions FAQ list.
Here’s the original Finger Board web page for reference.
Finger Board II: (click here for more images)
New features on Finger Board II:
Improved layout and better parts spacing. No extraction tool required for processor removal.
Improved silkscreen.
Jumper selectable reset address. Reset vector can be located at 0xFFFE,0xFFFF or 0xBFFE,0xBFFF.
Now fully compatible to Sbasic, Tiny4th, ICC11, and all other commercial 68HC11 compilers.
Optional external battery backup capable.
Optional external memory mapped LCD capable.
Optional Low Dropout voltage regulator ready.
Optional remote reset through serial port.
Reset switch now added along side download switch on the communications board.
Smaller overall footprint, 2″ x 4″, with the attached communications board.
Same professional board quality as before.
Specifications:
Motorola 68HC11 CPU.
256kbit (32Kbyte) Dallas battery-backed memory module, no need to use eproms or slower eeproms.
Compact size 2″ X 2.85″ (main CPU board)
Interactive C compatible LCD interface.
Network capable Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI).
No expensive hardware programmer needed, programs can be downloaded using a standard serial port.
Expansion Ports, list of headers:
Port A of 68HC11, 8 multi function I/O pins (JP8).
Port E of 68HC11, 8 analog channels (JP7).
Memory mapped I/O, Finger Board can be easily expanded to have 32 digital inputs and 32 digital output lines (JP9).
IRQ and XIRQ lines brought out for external interrupts (JP11).
Standard 9 pin serial port (P1).
SPI high speed serial interface, an easy way to attach peripherals (JP4).
LCD display interface (JP2).
Sharp IR receiver input (JP10).
Speaker output (JP12).
Infrared transmitter output (JP13).
MODB select (JP18)
External A/D reference input (JP6)
SRAM battery backup (JP19)
Power requirements:
7 to 18 Volts DC. Can easily run from a 9 Volt DC battery.
Current consumption: 24ma. DC without communications board < 10ma in WAIT mode, or STOP mode
30ma. DC with communications board.
Dimensions:
CPU board only 2.85″ long 2.0″ wide.
Communications board 1.15″ long 2.0″ wide.
CPU board with attached communications board 4″ long 2.0″ wide.
Software:
The Finger Board II was designed to take advantage of the many public domain software available on the web as well as any commercial compilers. Here are some links to freeware and shareware compilers and programs that can be downloaded and used to write programs for the Finger Board II. Check out our related sites page for links to commercial compilers.
C compilers – Interactive C, Small C and ICC11. For writing BASIC programs, use SBasic by Karl Lunt. Karl also has written a version of FORTH for the HC11 called tiny4th. Two very good interactive debuggers are NoICE by John Hartman and PCbug by Motorola. A good bootloader is Hcload by Sylvain Bissonnette. The one we have found to be very reliable is DL68hc11 by Wilfried Markenstein. Motorola also has a freeware assembler, as11.
Price:
All the following items are now available:
Bare PC board : $15.00 (order 10 or more at $10 each) (click here for image
Finger Board II kit: Sold Out
Assembled and tested Finger Board II: Sold Out
16×2 line LCD display and cable: $20.00
No assembled units or parts kit are available. Bare PC boards are in stock.
Please include $5 shipping and handling for destinations within the continental United States. All other areas, please us for shipping charges.
For those only interested in purchasing a single bare pcb board, shipping and handling can be avoided by sending us the cost of the pcb and include a self addressed stamped envelope with your order. Please attach three first class stamps to the envelope with your legible return address. We suggest using cardboard floppy disks envelopes that can be purchased at office supply stores. US only.
