Module Interest

I have a little extra laying around to invest in Skewworks and I wanted to see what kind of module interest there is out there.

The GPS units are almost fully populated (we’re expecting China to deliver the last piece within a week or so).

The 6 button module is cheap, fast and easy to produce if there’s interest. I could also do a 4 button module which would be great for direction pads or an A/B/C/D game pad.

We’ve also got a I-Socket 1-to-3 hub (you can actually connect whatever you like to it).

Or perhaps there’s another module you’d really like to see run? (We have a LiPo design but I’m not sure a decent run is within reach for the budget).

That would be nice but I don’t think that’s in the cards for this run. :wink:

NFC Module

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Some interests :

  • A keypad Module (0-9 + * AND # at least)
  • A GSM-3G/4G SIM Module
  • As Ianlee an NFC Module

I +1’d ian’s NFC idea. Plenty of good OSHW hardware designs available to start from, but not much in the way of full featured software drivers. For example, Adafruit has a great board with a well tuned antenna (PN532 NFC/RFID controller breakout board [v1.6] : ID 364 : $39.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits) based on the PN532 IC, but only implemented the barest of RFID functionality in code. There is an open source effort at http://open-nfc.org/wp/ that supports a lot of the bells and whistles on this chip…

I"m also keen on a LiPo module. Something I could plug a good sized RC battery into that also has a charging circuit (for solar :). I do realize that would be more than trivial and fairly pricey, though.

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YES defiantly.

NFC for android and BLE bluetooth 4.0 for iphone http://redbearlab.com/bleshield/

I was going to +1 earlier on the LiPo battery module, but decided I wouldn’t. Personally, LiPo is not what I need, but a battery based solution is.

But what I have been thinking about is probably a non-Gadgeteer solution (in fact it may be a dumb uC-less module), but similar to @ Ransomhall’s solar comments. I need an autonomous solar powered battery charge/discharge module to run some LEDs at night and charge during the day. I think I would prefer a more tolerant battery type (thinking 18650 Li-Ion?). Hmm, time to look at @ ladyada’s solar charger design again in more detail I think…

Looks like maybe I need to look into NFC.

I’m also looking into created an all-in-one board based on the Cerb40 for educational use. OLED, Buttons, SD, BatteryPack, RTC battery, possibly minimal sound and mating connectors to link them together.

Another vote the educational board.

whats about a Ultrasound or infrared rangefinders.
Maybe with a DaisyLink so its easyer to connetct several Modules.

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OK, here’s what I’m sending off for the Educational Device. Let me know if you see anything needs adding/changed. I’m not putting in USB host just because I need to keep the references LOW to have enough RAM to keep a 128x128 image + font.

Educational Board

CPU
FEZ Cerb40

Display
128x128 OLED
Connections: RST – PB10, DC – PA14, (cerb)MOSI – PB5, (cerb)MISO – PB4, CS – PA13
(Datasheet: http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/oled-display-module-net-gadgeteer-compatible-p-1019.html?cPath=203)

SD
MicroSD
Connections: D0 – PC8, D1 – PC9, D2 – PC10, D3 – PC11, CMD – PD2, CLK – PC12, SEL – PA15

Mating Connections
2x (1 in, 1 out, shared connections; Gadgeteer socket?)
Connections: UART RX – PA3, UART TX – PA2, I2C SDA – PB7, I2C SCL – PB6

Buttons
8X (push buttons)
Connections: PC14, PB9, PB8, PC15, PB5, PB4, PB3, PC3
(https://www.sparkfun.com/products/97)

USB Power & Programming
USB Mini
Connections: VBus – PA9, USB_DM – PA11, USB_DP – PA12, Loader1U2 – PA10, LOADER – BOOT0

RTC Backup Power
1.5v
Connections: VBAT

POWER
Battery pack or rechargeable LiPo

Here’s a look at the design.

About 6" x 3.2"

16bit, 16 inputs ADC

not living in the US I don’t know much about this, but there is a defacto standard education board, the BOE and boebot etc, that parallax have created/expanded (don’t know the history), which is also an evolution of the device Fez Mini got its footprint from. So while I don’t want to dissuade you, it might be worth thinking about if you can get coexistence / compatibility with that format?

Yes, I really love an updated version of th FEZ mini for my TV remote LCD touchscreen i build some time ago. Now the Cerb processor is much smaller i think an accu connection and an onboard charger would be really cool to have. Sadly im not that advanced as you guys are otherwise i already made one myself.

I’m not super concerned with BOE. :slight_smile:

I may look at doing a similar footprint in the future but for now this is roughly the design I’ll be going with.

Yeah, the concern would be if you try to out-place them and there’s a raft of equipment already held by schools, the last thing they will want is to replace it - as long as you’re cool with that ! :slight_smile:

Educational and hobby doesn’t have to mean in every school. I know my kids schools don’t have any equipment at all. And my board would be less that comparable. Plus mine will have some support no one else can claim. :wink:

Yeah I took teasing lessons from Gus.