New shield for STMP157-OLinuXino Industrial grade Open Source Hardware Linux computer

The open source hardware STMP157-OLinuXino industrial grade Linux computer got new shield which adds two UEXT connectors, second micro SD card and 40 pin GPIO connector in breadboard friendly 0.1″ (2.54 mm) step format.

STMP15X-SHIELD plugs on top of OLinuXino, the overlays are already included in OLIMAGE Linux images and no need for additional setup.

MOD-GPS back in stock, now with new chipset, support both GPS and GLONASS, better sensitivity, better price

MOD-GPS is back in stock and got better. Now uses Ublox 7 chipset with 56 channel receiver, better sensitivity -162dBm, better voltage operation 2.7-5.0V. Less power consumption 38 mA typical and beside GPS it now supports also GLONASS standard.

comes with same magnet type antenna:

and now you can safely connect it to OLIMEXINO-328 (Arduino 5V board)!

New Product in stock: A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT adapter

A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT is adapter board with Male connector on 0.05″ which can connect to A10-OLinuXino-LIME GPIOs with  0.05″ step ribbon CABLE-40-40-10CM and allow LIME GPIOs to be used with BREADBOARD-1, or with A13-LCD43TS, A13-LCD7TS or A13-LCD10TS.

For the moment A20-LCD15.6 is not supported as LVDS signals got noisy when pass through A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT but we are looking for solution.

UEXT signals can be used only when connected to GPIO1. On the other connectors UEXT signals will be not present.

New Product in stock: MOD-MPU6050 Digital 3-axis accelerometer + 3-axis gyro with UEXT

MOD-MPU6050 is new Open Source Digital 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyro combo breakboard. It comes with UEXT connector and cable so you can connect it to any of our development boards which have UEXT connector, but if you want you can use it also with breadboard as all MPU6050 signals are available in two rows at 0.1″ step on the two sides of the PCB.

The board is in stock and cost EUR 9.95

Demo code for OLinuXino in C and Python and for Arduino, MAPLE, Pinguino will be available on our web, the Eagle CAD files and schematic is also there.

New PIC-WEB firmware allow UEXT modules access over the web

PIC-WEB with Microchip’s TCP-IP stack allow development of easy applications for the web. The best thing is that you don’t have to be PIC programmer nor to know C, you can make all your project in html, java script, ajax and you have all PIC resources as dynamic variables so you can toggle GPIOs and read ADC values etc in your html code.

We decided to extend this as PIC-WEB have UEXT connector, now you can access UEXT modules in the same convenient way, as Stanimir developed I2C and UART interface in the Microchip TCP-IP stack.

As you can see from the picture below:

in the web resources you have I2C interface and thus you can send I2C commands to MOD-IO for instance over the web and drive relays ON and OFF, also read I2C sensors attached to UEXT connector.

The same resources for UART are also implemented:

and this way you can interface MOD-LCD4.3 over the internet:

for instance this happens when you send Clear command to the LCD over the web:

so with the new firmware you can have access to all UEXT module resources: relays, sensors, LCDs etc.

Friday Free Board Quiz issue #25 is RPI-UEXT + MOD-IO2

RPI-UEXT allow Raspberry Pi to have access to different modules see original blog post we made about it: https://olimex.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/raspberry-pi-gpio-to-breadboard-and-uext-adapter/

MOD-IO2 allow RaspberryPi to control 2 relays and to read/write 7 additional GPIOs, including Analog inputs. On top of this MOD-IO2 is stackable and addressable so you can stack and connect to Raspberry Pi as many relays as you need for your project.

You have chance to win RPI-UEXT + CABLE26-pin + MOD-IO2 today if you answer correctly our quiz question!

Today at 17.00 o’clock our local Bulgarian time (GMT+2) we will post on Twitter our questions.

You have one hour to reply to our tweet with the correct answer.

At 18.00 o’clock we will count the correct answers and ask random.org to generate random number in range then announce the winner and ship the board by airmail in Monday.

Good Luck!

STELLARIS-UEXT adapter for Stellaris launch pad in stock

STELLARIS-UEXT is Texas Instruments Stellaris Launchpad to UEXT adapter.

We have prepared demo code for MOD-GSM, MOD-MP3, MOD-GPS, MOD-TC, MOD-SMB380, MOD-IRDA, MOD-LCD3310 so you can interface these modules from your Stellaris Launchpad.

As Stellaris MCU have two SPI, I2C and UARTs we made the adapter with two separate UEXT connectors so you can connect two independant UEXT modules to it. Each UEXT have power up/down control with MOSFET so you can power up and down UEXT modules connected.

Raspberry Pi GPIO to Breadboard and UEXT adapter

Raspberry Pi is the most successful embedded Linux board for all times, according to their blog they have sold over 500 000 pcs, although when they post something on their blog you never know it’s true or not from our own source we know Farnell and RS Components have sold at least 100 000 each by August this year, so the number may be not exactly 500 000 but still in 6-digit range.

I will admit that our OLinuXino Linux boards were inspired and designed due to the lot of e-mails and requests from customers of ours at the beginning on 2012 when Raspberry Pi had problems to arrange their production. We were asked again and again please do small low cost Linux computer, although at that moment we were just Linux users but never dealt with Kernel compilations, Device drivers build etc. this is what triggered us to go in this direction.

So if there was no Raspberry Pi there would not be OLinuXino as well, I admit it 🙂

Despite all problems Raspberry Pi had with the manufacturing start-up they now have sorted out their production problems and schematic mistakes, so the latest model-B works fine according to what we hear. I asked today friend of mine to borrow me one Pi to experiment with and this on the picture above is what we made.

We all know that Raspberry Pi $35 price is hard to beat, but looking at the additional accesoaries and boards which are sold for Raspberry Pi I can’t say the same for them.

To use Raspberry Pi to interface real world you need additional hardware and the prices of this after sale accessories are quite high, probably to adjust the not-so profitable Raspberry Pi sale price?

For instance the Gertboard which contain few ICs and components + blank board which harly cost more than $10 for the Raspberry Pi volumes is offered for $46!

The new PiFace board with two relays and 4 buttons announced price is $36.

What we did today is small Raspberry Pi GPIO to Breadboard adapter with UEXT on it.

We called it RPI-UEXT and will have these in stock in 2 weeks, what you can do with this breadboard adapter? Well this is basically same T-shape board as our AVR-T32U4 Arduino like breadboard board: https://www.olimex.com/Products/Duino/AVR/AVR-T32U4/

You can see it how it plugs to normal Breadboard here:

The T-shapped boards was first invented by Ken Segler and we used for DuinoMite-TBA.

Every breadboard have two power supply busses on the top and bottom and there we run +5V/GND on top and +3.3V/GND on bottom. With the T-shapped board you make power supply available for breadboarding not only the GPIOs.

On top of the easy for breadboarding adapter we also have UEXT connector, what you can connect to Raspberry Pi with UEXT?

1. MOD-IO2 board https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/IO/MOD-IO2/ which cost EURO 12.95 and adds 2 relays + 7 GPIOs, you can plug together as many MOD-IO2 as you wish as they are addressable so you can have as many relay outputs driven by Raspberry Pi as you want.

The project for MOD-IO2 interfacing with iMX233-OLinuXino is on GitHub and we will release Raspberry Pi pack which will have MOD-IO2 control with Raspberry Pi

2. MOD-IO board https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/IO/MOD-IO/ which cost EURO 25.95 and have 4 relays + 4 opto isolated inputs + 4 Analog inputs, you can plug together as many MOD-IO as you wish as they are addressable so you can have as many relay outputs and analog inputs + optoisolated digital inputs driven by Raspberry Pi as you want.
The project for MOD-IO interfacing with iMX233-OLinuXino is on GitHub and we will release Raspberry Pi pack which will have MOD-IO control with Raspberry Pi

3. MOD-RTC https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Time/MOD-RTC/ cost EURO 4.95 is real time clock with battery backup which you can connect to Raspberry Pi with the UEXT adapter

4. Four different LCD modules are available from 1 row 9 characters segment LCD https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/LCD/MOD-LCD-1×9/ for EUR 6.95, NOKIA 3310 module 84×48 pixel LCD https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/LCD/MOD-LCD3310/  for EUR 6.95, color Nokia 6610 LCD https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/LCD/MOD-LCD6610/ 128×128 pixels with backlight and LCD 4.3″LCD module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/LCD/MOD-LCD4.3”/ for EUR 79.95. All these modules have GitHub projects for iMX233-OLinuXino which will work on Raspberry Pi also.

5. RFID readers for 125 Khz https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RFID/MOD-RFID125/ and 13.59 Mhz https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RFID/MOD-RFID1356/ which cost EUR 25.95 and allow you to build access control with Raspberry Pi

6. Bluetooth module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RF/MOD-BT/ for EUR 19.95

7. WIFI 802.11n 150MBit RTL8188CU module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RF/MOD-WIFI-RTL8188/ for EURO 7.95

8. Zigbee module MOD-ZIGBEE-UEXT https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RF/MOD-ZIGBEE-UEXT/ for EURO 17.95 which allow you Raspberry Pi to connect and control Zigbee network

9. Zigbee PIR module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RF/MOD-ZIGBEE-PIR/ which cost EURO 18.95 and allow Raspberry Pi to detect movement via Zigbee network

10. Quad band GSM/GPRS module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/RF/MOD-GSM/ for EURO 49.95 which allow Raspberry Pi to send and receive phone calls, GPRS data and to send and receive SMS

11. GPS module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/GPS/ which cost EURO 29.95 and allow Raspberry Pi to log your GPS coordinates

12. Wii Nunchuck joystick https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Accel/MOD-WII/MOD-Wii-UEXT-NUNCHUCK/ which cost EURO 6.95 and adds 3-axes accelerometer, XY joystick and 2 buttons so you can control your Raspberry Pi Games

13. Digital 3 axes accelerometer https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Accel/MOD-SMB380/ which cost EURO 14.95 and allow you to measure acceleration with Raspberry Pi

14. Digital 3-axes magnetometer https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Interface/MOD-MAG/ which cost EURO 7.95

15. RS485 convertor with 1000V isolation https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Interface/MOD-RS485-ISO/ which cost EURO 16.95 and allow Raspberry Pi to talk to instruments or DMX network

16. Thermocouple module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Interface/MOD-TC-MK2-31855/ which cost EURO 11.95 which allow Raspberry Pi to measure temperature -200C+700C with 0.25 resolution and as these modules are addressable you can attach as many thermocouples as you need

17. Heartbeat biofeedback sensor https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Biofeedback/MOD-EKG/ which cost EURO 25.95 and allow Raspberry Pi to log EKG signals

18. Pulse oximeter biofeedback module https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Biofeedback/MOD-PULSE/ which cost EURO 25.95 and allow Raspberry Pi to log oxigene levels in the blood.

Many new modules are on design stage including: 3-channel RGB LED controller, 3-channel 110/220VAC dimmer controller, Single phase Energy metering module etc etc.

BeagleBone-UEXT adapter is on the way also 🙂

FRIDAY FREE BOARD QUIZ ISSUE #13 PRIZE IS MOD-TC-MK2-31855

MOD-TC-MK2-31855 is UEXT Module whth the new MAX31855 IC and works with K-Type thermocouple and measure temperature from -200C to +1350C with 0.25 C resolution.

MOD-TC-MK2-31855 works with I2C and this allow many MOD-TC-MK2-31855 to be connected together to any of our boards with UEXT connector.

MOD-TC-MK2-31855 have also 7 general purpose GPIOs which also can be read and written with I2C commands.
Everyone have chance to win this board if answer correctly our Quiz question.

Today at 17.00 o’clock our local Bulgarian time (GMT+3) we will post on Twitter our question.

You have one hour to reply to our tweet with the correct answer.

At 18.00 o’clock we will count the correct answers and ask random.org to generate random number in range then anнounce the winner and ship the board by airmail next Monday.

Good luck!

NEW BOARD: MOD-IO2

MOD-IO2 EUR 12.95 lower cost, smaller version of our popular MOD-IO board, it have 2 RELAYs with 15A/250VAC specs and 7 GPIOs which are accessable via UEXT connector by I2C.

The best of all is MOD-IO2 are addressable and stackable so you can connect many together and have as many as you wish GPIOs and RELAYs connected to your board with UEXT connector.