Standardised boards

The JRex 3.5" CPU boards fit in between PC/104 modules that are suitable for low production volumes with a broad selection of off-the-shelf available I/O modules and custom baseboard designs that use CPU board standards such as ETX and DIMM-PC.

The boards have identical dimensions to floppy disk drives, providing more space for faster and more sophisticated features than those available when using traditional PC/104 modules.

Compared with pure CPU modules that are mounted onto application specific baseboards such as ETX, 3.5" boards include greater technical functionality without the need for any custom development.

Until now, the embedded PC market has made only a few standardisation attempts for the 3.5" form factor. The JRex standard is based on four principles that are applied to each JRex CPU module: standardisation of key mechanical and electrical interfaces, use of cost-effective SDRAM-DIMM memory modules, use of an ATX compatible power supply and provision of a standard panel interface.

All the boards include 2 x USB, LAN, CompactFlash, keyboard/mouse, VGA, COM1, FDC, IDE, power supply and reset interfaces implemented in the same physical positions on each board.

These uniform features enable OEMs to develop performance scalable products that do not need to undergo housing or connector modifications to accommodate different CPUs.

If JRex interfaces are insufficient, a new expansion module, known as JFLEX, can be mounted via an airtight SMD connector. The interfaces supported include the PCI and LPC bus as well as sound (AC97).

JFLEX modules cover the entire front side of the CPU board to accommodate new peripheral components without the need for extra cables.

JRex boards can operate with up to two JFLEX modules connected at a time.

Additional JFLEX modules are being developed for application-specific solutions.