The toolbox needed for an XTX quickstart is packed and ready to go

An engineering head start is offered by the congatec XTX starterkit

Deggendorf, April 27, 2006 – congatec AG releases the conga-XKIT to the market. This case contains a complete quickstart kit and is now available for use when testing all of the available features offered by the successful XTX embedded module concept. With this extensive kit it's possible to create XTX embedded applications quickly and efficiently.

The XTX starterkit consists of an evaluation baseboard, a debug card, an ATX power supply, a CD-ROM drive, a memory stick, congatec's SDVO/DVI-D evaluation board, a universal flat panel adapter board, all the cables, as well as congatec software tools and board support packages for all congatec XTX modules. This field-tested package can considerably reduce engineering efforts.


The XTX evaluation baseboard allows the user to explore all of the  XTX features. It provides 4 PCI, 2 PCI Express, 2 Express Card slots and 4 Serial ATA connectors. An additional super-IO chip, which is fully supported by the congatec Embedded BIOS, generates two additional serial and one parallel interface. The schematics of this board are included with the starterkit and can be used as a reference design when creating your own XTX baseboard.


The conga-Xdebug enhances the XTX starterkit by providing a complete debug platform. This board enables debugging even within a custom XTX design. Simply plug the conga-Xdebug between the baseboard and the XTX module. All the signals are now routed through the conga-Xdebug, which is completely transparent to the application. conga-Xdebug shows the LPC or PCI postcodes, displays PCI bus activity (using 4 LEDs for Command Byte Enable) as well as the status of 4 GPIO's. The custom system can be controlled by the integrated power and reset buttons. The onboard firmware hub can be utilized for testing customized BIOS versions. A separate power source can also be connected. Interfaces such as SATA, USB, VGA, Keyboard, Mouse and a serial interface allow for the monitoring of headless embedded systems. Using the conga-Xdebug means that it's no longer necessary to design debug features into your customized baseboard thereby reducing size, engineering input and production costs.


conga-XDVI is also a component of the XTX starterkit. This little board converts the SDVO signals, available on some congatec XTX modules, to DVI-D in order to connect external digital flatpanel displays. The schematics of this board are freely available and can be used when designing customized baseboards.


The included conga-FPA1 (Flat panel Prototype Adapter 1) is a universal flatpanel adapter board that has been designed to be compliant to the new EPI (Embedded Panel Interface) standard. It can be used for either prototyping, demonstration purposes, or for debugging certain issues. It may also serve as a reference for the implementation of panel adaptations on customer specific baseboards.


The XTX starterkit does not contain a CPU module. XTX modules are available starting with an AMD Geode LX 800@500 MHz up to the Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz.