It wasn't entirely satisfactory. In my mind the only real advantage the ENC28J60 has over the WIZnet is that the raw chip is available in a DIP package.
The wiznet chip isn't inherently that much more expensive than the Microchip ethernet controller, and the Wiznet chip does a lot more for you. If you can figure out how to bypass the relatively expensive manufacturing costs, you could produce a clone of the official shield and maintain SW compatibility. (This is one of the big advantages of open source; if you need large quantities of cheap, you can figure out how to make it yourself.)
(For that matter, you might be able to design a home-builldable PCB that uses the Wiznet 811MH MODULE (less than $20) and get something SW compatible for about half the price of the official shield.)
Unfortunately, ethernet for microcontrollers hasn't really hit the "economies of scale" that would make it cheaper....
Someone (in the UK, IIRC) makes a shield with this chip, already has a library.
the ENC device only provides the MAC layer, leaving you with lots to implement in software. The Wiz device provides transport layer support.
For that matter, you might be able to design a home-builldable PCB that uses the Wiznet 811MH MODULE (less than $20) and get something SW compatible for about half the price of the official shield.
Did you see the NKC electronics announcement recently? They've got exactly that.
I got one of the NKC electronics Ethernet shields and I really like it.
The only problem is that you cannot use it with other shields... on top of it... for example a LCD shield or xbee shield.
The ethernet jack is big making thing to connect impossible. That's not a problem with the shield per say... it's more with the prototype requirements. I wonder why NKC limit the size of the PCB, I think it it were a longer then most shield could fit on top of it.
I wonder why NKC limit the size of the PCB, I think it it were a longer then most shield could fit on top of it.
The idea was to align the Ethernet port with the USB port, on the outer side of the board. Originally I designed the PCB to be the same size as the Protoshield (still not as large as the full Arduino board), but it could have been a little bit better... but I saw a lot of empty PCB space and it looked much better a smaller board.
NKC, have you tried soldering one of the Wiznet modules directly to your shield, bypassing the 2x10 headers? It looks like that would reduce the height of the board considerably.
The idea was to align the Ethernet port with the USB port, on the outer side of the board. Originally I designed the PCB to be the same size as the Protoshield (still not as large as the full Arduino board), but it could have been a little bit better... but I saw a lot of empty PCB space and it looked much better a smaller board.
Maybe for Version 2...
well I have an idea how to fix this for version 2.
photoshopped
I could lay it out if you supply the schematic
Split the board in 1/2 and use right angle headers and use a simple wire to connect the 1/2s together
Im haveing trouble finding the connectors im looking for. I know there is a very low profile female right angle header connector, I've seen them before but i cant find any now?
does a 180* board to board header exist?
would look like this
