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Obtaining T-Engine Hardware

The T-Engine project standardises hardware at the “board level” and not the “processor level”. As a result, the project is well-supported by all Japanese processor manufacturers. It is therefore, no surprise, that you can get a T-Engine based on most Japanese processors, and some non-Japanese processors, too. Currently, you can obtain development kits for the T-Engine and the microT-Engine standards. Kits for the nano- and pico-T-Engine are not available yet.

T-Engine and micro T-Engine kits are available for the following processors:
  • SuperH processors from Renesas: SH7751R, SH7760 and SH7727 (T-Engine)
  • M32R processors from Renesas: M32104 (micro T-Engine)
  • MIPS from NEC: VR5500 (T-Engine) and VR4131 (micro T-Engine)
  • ARM Processors from Epson, Oki, Sharp, Fujitsu and YDC: ARM926, ARM922, ARM920, ARM720 (T-Engine)
  • TX Processors from Toshiba: TX4956 (T-Engine)
  • NIOS-2 from Altera (micro T-Engine)

Since there are more kits in development, the list above is just as an indicative list, not a comprehensive one – as and when I find other supported processors, I shall add them.

Currently, the kits cost between Yen 145,000 – Yen 200,000 (roughly US$1400 – US$1900). They should get cheaper in due course, I expect. The development kit essentially include a processor board based on the selected hardware. Some T-Engine kits may include an LCD Board and a Debug Board. In addition, there is a complete software development kit included – this includes a port of the operating system, drivers for the hardware peripherals on the board, compiler toolchain (GNU based) and T-Kernel Standard Extension (that adds virtual memory, process support, file system, etc.). The software runs on Linux and Windows. The specifics of each package may vary slightly. I would recommend checking the brochure of the kit that you are interested in for complete details.

Buying T-Engine Hardware

The “one-stop” shop for T-Engine hardware is Personal Media Corporation. They commercialise most of the outputs from the TRON Project, and the T-Engine is no exception. They represent all the manufacturers and their after-sales technical support is absolutely excellent. They even have an English page for the T-Engine products they represent – pricing information and brochures for all the kits are available there.

If you are not in Japan, you can contact the T-Engine Applicatlon Development Centre in Singapore – they can obtain the kits for you and also help with various technical issues. You can also contact me at mohits@onghu.com if you need T-Engine hardware.

Of course, if you have a working relationship with any of the processor companies, you could also try to contact them directly for more information.

Other hardware options include:

  • LCD Display Board (if the T-Engine kit does not come with one)
  • Wired LAN Extension Boards
  • FPGA Extension Boards

There are other hardware boards that are available, but I don’t have the information and links right now.

Table of Links

Here is a list of links to some of the main people that you can contact if you need to get T-Engine hardware.

Personal Media Corporation (PMC) <Japanese, English>
[Home] http://www.personal-media.co.jp/
[T-Engine] http://www.t-engine4u.com/en/index.html

T-Engine Application Development Centre (TEADEC) <English>
[Home] http://www.t-engine.com.sg/

NEC Electronics: T-Engine Information <Japanese>
[T-Engine] http://www.necel.com/micro/t-engine/

Renesas Technology Corp: T-Engine Products <Japanese>
[Home] http://www.renesas.com/jpn/products/mpumcu/tools/tengine/index.html
[Products] http://www.renesas.com/jpn/products/mpumcu/tools/tengine/ter.html
[SH family] http://www.renesas.com/jpn/products/mpumcu/tools/tengine/tesh.html
[M32R family] http://www.renesas.com/jpn/products/mpumcu/tools/tengine/tem32r.html

Toshiba Corporation <Japanese, English>
[Home] http://www.toshiba.co.jp/

Yokogawa Digital Corporation (YDC) <Japanese, English>
[T-Engine] http://www.ydc.co.jp/emb/en/product/T-Engine/T-EngineBoard.html

Altima & Altera - NIOS-2 Micro T-Engine & FPGA Board <Japanese>
[Info] http://www.altera.co.jp/corporate/news_room/releases/japan/nr-japan_nio2tengine.html
[Micro T-Engine] http://altimanet.com/altima/products/tengine_board.htm
[FPGA Board] http://altimanet.com/altima/products/fpga_board.htm