Threadneedle the wearable .NetMF board

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Well its friday and that seems to be the favorite time to introduce new things.
So here is something im working on. The worlds first .NetMF board designed for prototyping wearable systems called Threadneedle.
Based on the Cerb40 and only a shade less than 50mm in diamiter the Threadneedle offers more IO’s than any other similar board out there and all the benefits of the .NetMF platform.

Its not quite ready to be sent to DFRobot yet but will be very soon. As always i would love feedback and if anyone spots schoolboy errors please let me know.
And yes I know the USB in the 3D render is the wrong one :slight_smile:

10 Likes
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I’d like a couple of these :slight_smile:

Nice job!

Cuno

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Interesting idea that should appeal to a number of folks.

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Nice work Hugh…

Well you asked for feedback…

Wrong texture on the STM - STM32F407VGT6 is a 100 pin package :whistle:

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@ Justin - I just knew you of all people would spot that. When i did the texture i had to grab something off the net as I didnt have a board with me to take a nice piccy of.

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Here you go flash.

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@ Justin - Cheers Fella, updated :slight_smile:

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Love it!

Sign me up for 4 at least!

:clap:

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Looks great

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added a quick vid :smiley:

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The video makes it even more exciting.

By the way, please do not forget to add proper attributions to the board as described here under “licensing” http://ghielectronics.com/docs/46/cerb-family#415

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Thanks Gus. I will make sure that all the right attributes are there and will get your approval before I send the boards off to DF. Last thing I want to do is get that wrong :slight_smile:

Edit: Updated the still with the Attributes

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Out of interest sake, what does “derived work” mean in the licence.

Say I base my hardware design on the STM32F4DISCOVERY board, instead of the Cerberus, does that still mean that the hardware is a “derived work”, because I use Cerberus’ firmware, and must be opensourced?

Please note that I have not made a NETMF board and I’m not planning to in the near future. This is purely an academic question.

@ HughB
Is it washable? :slight_smile:

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LOL

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@ GMod(Errol) - You can certainly put it through the wash. However will it work afterwards? Probably not. :smiley:

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@ GMod(Errol) - Did you start your work with GHI’s work? I think it is clear on what a derived work is. Google may have some answers http://www.arrow-net.eu/faq/what-derived-work.html

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@ HughB - Nice job!

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Why wouldn’t it work after you wash it? You should avoid washing it with anything containing phosphates, but otherwise I’m not sure what would be damaged? The only thing I know of that doesn’t like liquids is older crystals.

Just a suggestion: If you can get that voltage regulator on the top side, you’ll save a ton of money with assembly costs. If you absolutely have to do a double-sided assembly, try to only put passives on the back side. Otherwise you’ll have to use different temperatures of solder paste.

Also, USB mini connectors have been deprecated in favor of the smaller/cheaper/more reliable USB micro connectors. I’d avoid using miniUSB on any new designs.

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@ jay - thanks for the advice re components on the back, I hadn’t considered different temps for the paste as I assumed surface tension would keep the solder in place.
I’ll look into changing the USB connector too, cheaper is always better :slight_smile:

I’ve found a company that can do flexible pcb’s but not sure if its cost effective for low volumes, unless I get a few hundred orders that is :slight_smile:

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@ HughB - Do you have a driver for this? I’m doing a video tomorrow on mainboards and I’d like this to show up in the designer.