A13-OLinuXino-MICRO first prototypes are ready

Here is the first look at A13-OLinuXino-MICRO assembled prototypes.

It took a lot of time as our assembly machines are overloaded and we run them on two shifts to meet the demand for our development boards, so the blank PCBs were made and sitting for two weeks waiting on tail for the assembly window.

What we have here is:

- A13 Cortex-A8 processor running at 1GHz
- 256MB of DDR3 RAM
- USB host
- USB-OTG
- VGA output 800×600 @ 60 Hz
- SD-card
- Audio Out for headphones
- LCD connector
- GPIO connector 1 and 2
- UEXT connector
- 100×85 mm

The goal is to release A13-OLinuXino-MICRO in production at EUR 35 retail down to EUR 28 for 50+ pcs OEM order.

For those who will say that 256MB is small amount of memory I would say that we run pretty amazing stuff now even on iMX233 with 454Mhz processor and 64MB RAM, so with x4-6 times faster processor and x4 times more memory lot of projects could be complete in Linux. Well, we will probably not run Andoriod 4.0 nor Open Office and Ubuntu with Chrome, but for this purpose it A13-OLinuXino-WIFi where you have double the RAM and 4GB NAND flash disk.

MICRO have no Ethernet by default but supports MOD-RTL8188CU WiFi adapter and the AX88772B USB to wired LAN adapters which will be for sale next month.

We try the SD card with the Debian image and as expected the bootloader starts then the kernel stops as there is no enough memory. So the goal now is to disable MALI400 and the GPU which alone take 200MB and to make kernel which fits in smaller footprint.

We assembled few of these and the first who report that disabled the Mali and GPU and managed to ran Linux-Sunxi in 256MB will get one of the first assembled MICROs

A13-OLinuXino first prototypes are ready for testing

 

Today we assembled the first A13-OLinuXino OSHW Linux computer prototypes and now prepare to test them with Android and Linux image.

The board on the picture above is the BASE model, there will be also A13-OLinuXino-WIFI-4GB which will have on-board RTL8188CU WIFI 802.11n 150Mbit module + 4GB NAND flash on board.

If everything is OK with the tests we will send few prototypes to selected developers and prepare to run production in September.

Our target is to release A13-OLinuXino for EUR 45 and A13-OLinuXino-WIFI-4GB for EUR 55.

A13-OLinuXino routing complete!

Today we completed the A13-OLinuXino routing and I push the CAD files to GitHub. Note that these are not the final, we have to make some final touch and to add text, logos etc, but I know how many of you waiting for the CAD files with no patience so I push these work CAD files for your review.

If everything goes well we may have prototypes by end of next week

A13-OLinuXino board routing progress

We decided to re-format the PCB in standard Nano-ITX form factor 120×120 mm.
The high speed DDR3 memory part is completely routed now, the board will be 4 layers, so generally most of the work is done.
Now the peripherials have to be routed and next week we may be ready for prototype PCB run.

iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro Doube Side Design works at full speed

Our first attempt to route DDR memory at 2 layers in iMX233-OLinuXino-Mini didn’t went very well as we wanted to put all components on one layer thus to make manufacturing with single reflow for lower cost.

Unfortunately the board didn’t work reliable at higher than 64 Mhz DDR data bus clock as with the 2 layers design we couldn’t make all signals lenght same, but split it on two groups, anyway. We decided on iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro to try again 2 layer design but this time to put the DDR memory under the iMX233 chip and to make signal paths not even but very short. After all this is just 133Mhz not 1333Mhz as it will be on A10-OLinuXino

We routed the board and run prototypes which got assembled on 23th of May 16.00 oclock, so we could’t test them until today due to our Holidays.

Today we run the tests and board works great at 133Mhz DDR clock.

First the board was designed with USB-mini connector for taking 5V power supply, then I told our developers to change it to standard power supply barrel jack, but they didn’t understood correctly nor I have double check the PCB files before we ran the prototypes, so now first prototypes have USB-B connector for power supply , don’t worry it will be fixed in the production run, which is to follow. Also these prototypes were produced in Green color instead Red as they will be in production.

The CAD files of this working 2 layers design are uploaded on GitHub.

We are about to run few other tests tomorrow and put this board on tail for mass production. This means we will have these boards in stock about end of June (or earlier ).

A13-OLinuXino 1Ghz Cortex-A8 development started

We got last friday 4 samples of Allwinner A13 ICs and AXP209 and we begin the new board design.

We also got finally the A13 datasheet and there is GREAT news inside it, Allwinner A13 operates in INDUSTRIAL temperature range also, so -25+85C is what this chip can work and there is no problem to be used in INDUSTRIAL applications too.

I worked this weekend for the specifications and this is what I came with:

1. A13 Cortex A8 1Ghz processor
2. 512 MB of DDR3 memory
3. 6-16VDC input power supply
4. 4x USB hosts – one reserved for optional WIFI
5. 1x USB OTG
6. VGA
7. Audio Output
8. Audio Input
9. RTC PCF8536 on board for real time clock and alarms
10. SDcard
11. 5x Keys on board for navigation
12. UEXT connector for connecting addtional UEXT modules like Zigbee, Bluetooth, Relays, etc
13. GPIO connector with 68/74 pins and these signals :
- 17 for adding NAND flash
- 22 for connecting LCDs
- 24 GPIOs, 3x I2C; 2x UARTs;  1x SDIO2
- 5 system pins: +5V, +3.3V, GND, RESET, NMI

Another great news which came right on time was that there was leak of A10 Linux 3.0.8 kernel source and Android 4.0 sources http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25978796&postcount=121 where the support for A13 is not cleaned so we have now linux and android 4.0 sources which support A13 processor, so releasing the proper software for A13 will be easier than I though first.