Using Gadgeteer modules & board in low-volume commercial offering

Hello,
Something is not clear to me at this point in time (having played with Gadgeteer for only a few days now). Once I have a nice solution, I’d like to sell this to some people. Is this a supported thing, is Gadgeteer and the GHI modules intended for such purpose, or is this solely prototyping?

If this is supported and advised to use in a solution, are they any typical ‘cases/boxes’ available to attach the setup of modules in it, so to sell a closed box?

If this is not supported, are there any other items suggested for that ?

Thank you

Sam - still noob

They way I see it, Gadgeteer is a prototyping environment. For more permanent solutions, you can take the FezCerb40 (http://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/353) and build that into your custom enclosure. This does not mean you can’t put a Hydra in a custom case. It all depends on how skilled you are and the cost of your custom solution. Hope this helps.

Thanks, that makes sense.
Assembling the component, through soldering, should not be the issue for me.

But I still would like to benefit from the fact that through the modules and Gadgeteer, I get total abstraction of the actual underlying device/module programming (I don’t really need to know how to take a picture, I’m just calling the TakePicture method on the module classes with Gadgeteer).

Is that possible and if yes: how are the modules typically connected to the mainboard, then (I don’t seem to see any typical module connectors on the FezCerb40)

Is there a tutorial/demo/video available, somewhere on this?

Appreciate your fast answers, btw !

Thanks

The FezCerb40 was build with a DIP layout so you could plug it in onto your own custom PCB.

If you want to take advantage of the Gadgeteer connections, you will have to use one of the Gadgeteer mainboards.

Eric

BTW, where are you from if I may ask?

Assuming you still use the same connections, you can just take your code that you built on a full-Gadgeteer platform and move it over to a custom PCB. You can also buy Gadgeteer compatible sockets and still build up your own PCB, but if you purely want to “get product out the door” then the no-nonsense plug and play of the commercial pieces you can buy are easy.

Okay, so do you know if there’s similar modules available that come with a good and clear MF SDK, that can be used in combination with the FezCerb40, in the DIP layout ?
Ideally: looking for abstraction from the actual detailed IO, if possible.

I’m from Belgium (one of the most complicated countries I believe :))

Cool, me too (from Oppuurs between Puurs-Sint-Amands-Bornem), that makes 3 from Belgium i believe.

there are no such thing called complicated countries, only complicated people ;D

Right, but those complicated people make complicated countries :smiley: and believe me, we have lots of those :smiley:

I enjoyed the number of holidays you guys have, while I was working in Belgium! :wink:

Oh, did I mention that Hoegaarden is my absolutely favorite beer!

A lot of people here call that Kamelenzeik (Camelpee), but hey, you can’t argue about taste :wink:

I don’t know what Kamelenzeik tastes like and I don’t want to, but Blue Moon similar to Hoegaarden is very popular here.

Duvel is my another favorite one, but you have to be careful with this one.

Sorry I’ll be breaking the discussion on the beers, but (having spent my youth as a close neighbour of brewery Bavik) I can say that it doesn’t make sense discussing on tastes :slight_smile:

Anyway, getting back to my ‘noob’ stage here. Still trying to get the actual picture.
Can I say it like this (the typical steps to produce something for production purposes):

  • First you build the prototype with the various gadgeteer modules and the cables, etc
  • Once the prototype is working, you start replacing the gadgeteer modules by actual IC’s or sets of electronic components, that perform the same logic and follow the same schema.
  • Bottom line is that the code should still work, but now the parts can all be assembled on a print

Is that correct, and if yes; is there a list of the electronic schemas (and their components) of all GHI Gadgeteer modules ?
If that is incorrect, please let me know :slight_smile:

best regards

You’re pretty much on the money Sam.

The Open Source GHI modules are all documented on codeplex in the gadgeteer site. http://gadgeteer.codeplex.com/ is the starting point for it all. If you have a look at the changelist for instance, http://gadgeteer.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets, you can see the updates the GHI team are checking in.

Hi Sam, (I live in Bavikhove too, married with Annelies Depaepe). I don’t have a gadgeteer, but I see it only as a prototyping solution. If you need help in your project (software, hardware, PCB design), you can contact me.

Wooow : what a small world this is !! :slight_smile:
I have some ideas indeed. Maybe we can make some things together.

best regards