NexGen: MPCD (F/A-18C/D MPCD): Hardware / Software Interface III

20 Mar 2023

Ok, So I have talked about the MPCD's Bezel more than one or two times. So why don't we start in, again in part II, I used an MCP2515 I/O expander to handle my Bezel Switches, which will stay at is, but instead of using CANaerospace, I will use an Ethernet Shield on the Arduino Mega, as the display is handled by the RSS computer itself, but I still need to have 20 LEDs as well. So here's what I'm going to do. I have color coded the table below just to help with the LEDs and it also matches the photo as well.

Now that I'm done with the pretty picture and the table, I can get down to the dirty work, as I don't have a Shield2 just to snap them together, but I do have a bunch of the W5200 Ethernet Sheild from Seeed Studio. So Im going to have to "hack" the two of them together. So here is how I'm going to do it.

PIN	Neumonic	Comment	PIN	Neumonic	Comment
0	TX0.RCV	USB TEST PORT	29	PA7	LED 8
1	TX0.TXT	USB TEST PORT	30	PC7	LED 9
2	INT	Ethernet Shield INT	31	PC6	LED 10
19	INT	Keyboard INT	32	PC5	LED 11 (Bottom Right)
20	SDA	See the small table below for ISP connections.	33	PC4	LED 12
21	SDK		34	PC3	LED 13
49	CS		35	PC2	LED 14
22	PA0	LED 1 (Top Left)	36	PC1	LED 15
23	PA1	LED 2	37	PC0	LED 16 (Left, Bottom)
24	PA2	LED 3	38	PD7	LED 17
25	PA3	LED 4	39	P?	LED 18
26	PA4	LED 5	40	P?	LED 19
27	PA5	LED 6 (Right Top)	44	P?	LED 20
28	PA6	LED 7

MEGA		SHIELD
PIN	NEWMONIC	ISP BUS
2	INT	^*
52	SCK	3
53	MISO	1
51	MOSI	4
53	CS	^*
^*neither the interrupt pin nor the Chip Select is present on the ISP connector.

So here is how I will do it as I said before this is going to be a real hatchet job. Since the Shield will not plug into the Mega, I will have to do it the hard way. I have to wire them together. Sounds like fun doesn't it??

Later.

BTW, Both devices, the Ethernet Shield, and the Keyboard are using interrupts. "Wiznet chips have an interrupt pin, which is not currently used by the Ethernet library." In the Arduino Forum, I found the answer. "Getting Interrupts from Ethernet shield."

fins

Definition:
MPCD ::= Multi-Purpose Color Display