I was considering using an ethernet to serial converter, and using an AT command protocol to connect to the ethernet. Realizing this would tie up the only serial port, I didn't want to do that: Bridging ethernet and serial may be one area where such a limited computer could still be useful. I found online another one of the same ethernet sheilds I previously destroyed, this time on clearance for $5. I decided to try again.

The issue I had previously was a bus collision. The Wiznet 5100 chip does not release the MISO line, instead it drives it low continuously when idle. This happened while PORTB was either talking to the sdcard, or while the AVR was driving video, in either case, it was bad news for the W5100.

The W5100 does have a 'spi enable' line, which can be driven in inverse to SS, to force it to release the bus. This workaround is covered in a Wiznet application note, and this feature is largely regarded by the internet community as a bug. This line is made available on this ethernet shield as a tiny pad I suppose I could solder a small wire to.

Instead, I decided to try adding a tri-state buffer. I had previously used a 74HCT244 to buffer and level shift the SDCARD, which was also a 3.3v SPI interface. I tried it, but this time I had problems, unless I used a very slow SPI clock rate. When I bench test the buffer on a breadboard, it switches fine: 3v is plenty for a TTL high. After all, I can talk to the sdcard 5Mhz SPI rate with no problem. Then I decided to double-check the data sheet. The W5100 only guarantees 2.0V logic highs. When I checked the sdcard specs, it guaranteed .75 * supply, so 2.47 volts.

At this point, I knew the wiznet was being written to correcly by the SPI bus, because I could set its IP address, and it would respond to pings from my desktop computer. But reading registers from the Wiznet produced garbled data. After checking very carefully that the sdcard was disabled, and its buffer's CS line was held high, I directly connected the MISO pin from the Wiznet to the AVR. The data read back correctly. The AVR guarantees anything 2.5v (supply/2) is a high. Due to the number of direct-connected Arduino shields produced, I suspect the real numbers on AVR are a little lower (can read a little below 2.5 as a high), and most Wiznet's produce a little more then 2v as a high. The range of values that work seem to overlap; however it seems the guarantees don't quite meet. Searching the internet, there are a handful of anecdotes of confused users claiming to have plugged in their ethernet shields and tried everything, but can't get it to work.

So, now I know the ethernet shield works, but the logic levels are a little 'off'. Then I decided to try the lowest tech solution possible: a resistor. I put a resistor between the AVR MISO and the Wiznet MISO. What would this resistor do? Here are the combinations:

(Remember an idle W5100, drives its MISO in the low state)

SDCARD is running, Wiznet is IDLE:

The sdcard buffer's out is directly connected to the AVR MISO line. The Wiznet is driving low, but through a resistor, so it's as if its a pull-down resistor.

SDCARD is idle, Wiznet is running:

The sdcard buffer is in tristate. If the Wiznet is driving high, its as if MISO is on a pullup resistor. If the Wiznet is driving low, its as if MISO on a pulldown. The AVR should see MISO go up and down.

So, the questions are 1) What value resistor 2) How fast can SPI go?

I started with 10k resistor, and a slow SPI bus. CLK/128. This was a speed that was still giving me problems (lots of missing single bits) with the tristate buffer. No problems. CLK/64. CLK/32. All ok. At CLK/16, the occasional glitch. I put it back to CLK/32, and lowered the resistance to 5k.

So... can this go faster? With a 450 ohm resistor, it can go a lot faster. It runs at about CLK/4 before things scramble up. I tried accessing the SD card with the ethernet connected. I could still talk to the sdcard at CLK/2, and having 5v presented to the wiznet through this resistor did not destroy anything. But I don't know if that would be safe for continuous use. 5volts/450 ohms = 11 mA. Maybe that's OK, maybe that's not: miso is meant to connect to some high impedance input.

5k seems a lot safer... about 1mA. At 5k, the ethernet interface seems to work well enough, and nothing is cooking. The SPI speed isn't great, but CLK/32 is 625 kilobits, which is 3 times what I would get through a serial port on the best of days, and also probably still 'too much internet' for a simple computer. I would be perfecly happy to achieve serial port speeds, while still keeping my actual serial port free.

I may experiment with 450 ohms, but add some protection: If I put up a 3.3v diode (don't have one on hand, but I can stack up a few .6 diodes) then I don't have to worry about overvoltage. Speeding up SPI would still benefit the project, since less time will be taken talking to the ethernet board, and more time can be spent using the CPU for other tasks.