all fun projects at Olimex Ltd
22 Jun 2017 2 Comments
in fpga, KiCAD, OSHW Tags: board, fpga, ice40, oshw, risc-v
iCE40HX8K-EVB is upgrade of our iCE40HX1K-EVB with more logic cells FPGA so bigger Verilog projects could be synthesized.
GPIO1 34 pin bus is same as iCE40HX1K-EVB and all DAC, ADC, IO, etc modules are compatible, on top of this there are plenty of additional GPIOs on 4 40 pin 0.05″ step connectors.
512KB fast SRAM is on board, with iCE40-IO board you can connect VGA monitor and PS2 keyboard, so you can make your own custom CPU (for instance RISC-V) computer with monitor and keyboard.
21 Jun 2017 10 Comments
What you see above is our attempt to make ESP32 board with 4MB RAM. Reading the ESP32 datasheet this is quoted as the maximum possible external RAM possible to attach.
It’s named ESP32-PRO and here is the Github repo for it.
We encounter lot of problems while designed it, thanks to Rudi from ESP32.de for the tips and help. As there is the usual mess with the documentation and lot of unclear stuff.
We saw in the new WROVER-KITS we got that the module which is used is not WROOM, but WROVER and inside it has pSRAM.
The pSRAM is working on 1.8V and share same data pins as the Flash so we had to find 1.8V Flash also.
Another issue is that in the documentation pSRAM clock and data are reversed for unknown reason, but at least the software which run on WROVER module has these correctly set 🙂 so we had to ignore the Espressif datasheet and user manual info.
On top of this in the documents never mention that GPIO12/MTDI must be pull high if the power supply is 1.8V neither their reference design show this.
At least now having OSHW board with all correct settings will help other to not struggle all obstacle like us on the road to add external RAM.
We had to go to bare ESP32 chip as the RAM signals are not available on WROOM neither WROVER modules, this will lead to paid certification which we still do not know how much will be, but will have to add to the sale price of this module, so price is yet unknown but will be fair 🙂
As Rev.0 of the ESP32 chip has issue with cache for external RAM, we try to communicate with Espressif if we have to expect other bugs and issues with Rev.1 using external pSRAM, will keep you updated.
Beside the ESP32 we add PIC32MX270F256DT, this is nice processor with USB-OTG which will allow ESP32 to connect to both USB hosts and to act as USB-host and read for instance external USB Flash or take pictures from USB Webcam etc.
Why not AVR? Because AVRs are in trap of their own success. For the price of PIC32MX270F256DT which has 64K RAM, 256K Flash and USB-OTG you can buy ATMega32u4 which has only 2K RAM and 32K Flash and just USB device.
PIC32MX270F256 opens much more possibility with plenty of Flash and RAM.
21 Jun 2017 1 Comment
in open source, OSHW, PIC Tags: BASIC, duinomite, pic32
Duinomite-MINI, MEGA, eMEGA boards were made specially to run BASIC on PIC32 processors, but are well packed with features boards, so people were using them not only with BASIC interpreter but also programming them in C.
There were not high runners, so at one point we were selling just few per month and when the blank boards were out of stock we had hesitated if to run them again or not, with the time lot of people signed for notification when back in stock so we decided to run small batch of all these three and re-stock.
Now we got them back in stock.
21 Jun 2017 1 Comment
ESP32-GATEWAY the lightweight version of ESP32-EVB is now in stock! It’s with dimensions only 50×62 mm and is practically same as ESP32-EVB but without relays, CAN and IR control.
05 Jun 2017 37 Comments
in Allwinner, Android, ARM, debian, linux, new product, olinuxino, open source, OSHW, wifi, wireless Tags: a64, board, olinuxino, oshw
A64-OLinuXino OSHW board is now released. Current revision is Rev.C.
Features are:
For the moment we have three models:
The optional connectors and SPI Flash etc may be assembled upon request for small fee.
03 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in event Tags: hackathon, Hardware, tuxcon
Here is map how to get to us tomorrow. Normal path from Boulevard “6-ti Septemvri” which is being reconstructed more than year is marked with blue.
Do not take this route with car. Walking is possible but adventurous 🙂
The new path is from Boulevard “Tsarigradsko shose”, right turn at “Kemera” street, then left and right to “Prohlada” street and left turn when you cross “Pravda” street.
The Hackathon starts at 11.00 o’clock . The goal will be to Do-It-Yourself this sweet board:
First we will speak a bit about the different electronic components which are used and how to solder them properly. Then we will assembly 100 kits and learn how to install Arduino IDE and program them.
We will experiment with capacitive buttons implementation – the Kitty nose. Then we will try to compose different melodies and upload them.
The Hackathon will end 17.00 o’clock and we will move somewhere to drink beer.
01 Jun 2017 8 Comments
in esp32, IoT, new product, open source, OSHW Tags: board, esp32, gateway, iot
ESP32-EVB really took us lot of time to complete mostly due to the not so complete documentation around Ethernet and our own silly errors. Also we wanted to add so many interfaces there to may people evaluate them all: Ethernet, CAN, Infrared, Relays LiPo UPS etc etc and the board become 75×75 mm. The price also went from EUR 22 to EUR 26.
In parallel we quietly were working on stripped version named ESP32-GATEWAY, as the name says we wanted just to keep here the connectivity: WiFi, BLE, Ethernet, USB for programming and micro SD card.
All available GPIOs are made on 0.1″ step strip at the bottom of the board, and two nice mount holes:
Today we assembled the first prototypes and we will test tomorrow. If everything is OK we will run production. We already have 100 blank PCBs ready as after so much time spent on ESP32-EVB we do not expect any troubles, but still wanted to reduce the risk to throw in the garbage bin more than 100 boards if we missed something.
So hold your breath if everything is OK we will have 100 boards for sale next week 🙂
The price of ESP32-Gateway will be EUR 22.
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