Just stirring up trouble

Alpha - G30 powered mainboard with built in WiFi.

Sockets are:
1 = U/K
2 = S
3 = I
4 = A

I haven’t decided what I am going to do with the other I/O pins yet, but might include headers.

Cost = TBD.

8 Likes

@ munderhill - Which wifi chipset?

@ mcalsyn - Zentri, AMW004.

1 Like

@ munderhill - Given G30, I’m assuming no SSL. But still…

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

OK, a little over the top…but assuming the price is reasonable, this looks like a pretty compelling board. :slight_smile:

Oh, and on the question of other I/O pins, I think standard headers would make for good additional flexibility above and beyond the Gadgeteer sockets.

@ devhammer - Actually SSL is supported since it is part of the WiFi module.

2 Likes

Oh. My. :open_mouth:

That’s odd. I’m throwing money at the screen but the device isn’t coming out. What am I doing wrong ::slight_smile:

3 Likes

Wow… That’s all I can say for now. :wink:

@ All - Should I add mounting holes?

Please do. For me, even my dodgy projects, I usually mount them in a plastic jiffy box, and without a single hole in the board, it’s a hard problem to solve.

So as far as the unused i/o ports the board will have the necessary pads for mounting headers on the bottom of the board. But will not be installed by default.

Should the board have an additional flash chip for storage? What size?

Pads? Or TH for header pins?

You mean above and beyond the 128k of the G30? Wouldn’t hurt to have more, but not if it adds substantially to the price. Inexpensive NETMF wifi with SSL is the most appealing aspect, IMO.

@ devhammer - Pads only. Yes, flash would be above what the G30 supplies, but would not be usable for program storage, just files. Maybe I will just add it to the board and only populate on demand (same as headers).

Files == program storage, if you do dynamic loading

@ mcalsyn - True, I forgot about that… :-[

@ munderhill -

OK…not sure I’m understanding how the pads would work…for headers, I’m used to just soldering in header pin strips in TH holes.

With pads, would I need to have my own separate PCB to plug this into a breadboard?

As for file storage, I was thinking that wouldn’t be necessary, but saw that none of the sockets support F type, so no SD card. So yeah, I guess I would either add some flash storage, or support (if possible…listing for FEZ Medusa II isn’t available for comparison) the F type on one of the sockets.

@ devhammer - You would solder something like this (https://www.itead.cc/2-54mm-40pin-smd-male-header-5-pcs.html) to the pads.

@ munderhill - OK. I have boatloads of those…so that works fine. Don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. Brain must be in the wrong gear today. :slight_smile:

As for extra memory for files, to keep the cost down, just create a space for an additional spi eeprom or something, but leave it unpopulated. For those people that need extra storage, they populate their own eeprom. That shouldnt add anything to the cost, right?

@ mtylerjr - True, but it will only add $2.00 (US) to the cost of the board to add the flash chip.