- arm-netbook - Mailman test

tablet/laptop pcb rev3
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

ok opportunity with the cpu card interface redesign to do a layout change, i'm taking out the atsam4s and replacing it with a VC0345 camera IC, PCA9536 I2C-to-GPIO converter, and am putting in a Micro-SD on the top edge of the PCB (so that things like the IC1T card can use it). ethernet and the extra USB i will route to an FPC which can go to a daughterboard for when this is used in a mini laptop. USB audio remains as-is using the CM108AH. basically the tablet pcb becomes a usb / i2c peripheral board, something i didn't want to do because i wanted the educational and experimentation sector covered as well. l.

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ingenic jz4775
by lkcl . 16 Jul '14

16 Jul '14

wow, it turns out that the full source code for everything - *including* the VPU - is available. i am amazed and delighted. full source code download instructions are here: http://www.ingenic.cn/en/en/download.php?pid=857&fid=795 l.

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IC1T and jz4775 news pages
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 12 Jul '14

12 Jul '14

for when phil's server (or rapidswitch) are responding, these will be available: http://rhombus-tech.net/icubecorp/IC1T/news/ http://rhombus-tech.net/ingenic/jz4775/news/

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list upgraded
by Alain Williams 10 Jul '14

10 Jul '14

If there is anyone with a dmark setting address (eg yahoo.com) their emails will be treated slightly differently but it should work. They may find that they have an administrative block put on them -- I did that to prevent problems earlier. Please ask and it will be removed. -- Alain Williams Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer. +44 (0) 787 668 0256 http://www.phcomp.co.uk/ Parliament Hill Computers Ltd. Registration Information: http://www.phcomp.co.uk/contact.php #include <std_disclaimer.h>

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This list may be up & down for a bit
by Alain Williams 10 Jul '14

10 Jul '14

I am going to update the software to mailman 2.1.18-1 My motivation is to deal with the problems that were causes by yahoo a few months ago when it changed its dmarc settings. This was why yahoo users were forbidden from posting to the list. This should fix this; the new version has been out for a couple of months and should (hopefully) not cause problems. Those interested in the nitty gritty look at: http://list.org/mailman-admin.txt and search for 'dmarc'. This will happen over the next day or two. Regards -- Alain Williams Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer. +44 (0) 787 668 0256 http://www.phcomp.co.uk/ Parliament Hill Computers Ltd. Registration Information: http://www.phcomp.co.uk/contact.php #include <std_disclaimer.h>

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[status] jz4775 and ic1t boards
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 09 Jul '14

09 Jul '14

ok both the jz4775 and ic1t cpu cards pass routing and plane (connectivity) checks, it's what i've been spending my evenings on, over the past couple of weeks. i have to consider replacing the SD/MMC card slot on the IC1T board with a BGA 11mm eMMC because SD/MMC is not as reliable, eMMC has 8 data lines and will be faster. BGA 159 pin eMMC will just about fit and will simplify the design slightly. more later, will create PCB images etc. l.

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HummingBoard becomes partially what eoma would've been
by Lauri Kasanen 07 Jul '14

07 Jul '14

Hi, They announced the HummingBoard recently. Its specialty is that the outer interface is rpi-compatible, but the cpu and ram can be replaced. So while the interface is not open I believe, that's getting closer to what eoma would have been. Thought to let you know. - Lauri

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New Name
by Alexander Stephen Thomas Ross 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

We need a new name for EOMA and for the company behind it (QiMod). right? Does the project name rhombus-tech need or wanted to be changed? heres a pad to to write suggestions and comments: https://public.pad.fsfe.org/p/Rhombus-Tech.org_New_Name_For_EOMA-* as a advantage over the wiki of you can see whose edits is whose.

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announcement last week made its way to slashdot...
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 01 Jul '14

01 Jul '14

i've responded here, i'd be interested to hear people's thoughts: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=5350045&cid=47362451

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Regarding Improv, EOMA68, Free Software and Open Hardware.
by Henrik Nordström 30 Jun '14

30 Jun '14

This is a response letter to the notice just received that the Improv project is being warpped up. Only trivially editied to fit the context of the mailinglist. (inital reply was sent privately) I am sorry to see the Improv project being wrapped up but fully understand and do not come as a surprise given the discussions over last months. Just not sure I agree on the conclusions expressed in this letter however, claiming that "The Free software community does not seem ready at this point to make a concerted stand on the pressing issue of hardware freedom". The issues that have dragged this project down has very little to do with free software as such, or even the community at large. EOMA68 have been dragged down mostly by lack of resources, being founded as a garage project run on pocket money and begging, resulting in endless delays and unfavorable compromises, plus numerous issues in people relations. And in addition starting at the wrong end of the table trying to make a standard for hardware without first being familiar with hardware designs and considerations. Resulting in a project trying to make a leap before it knew how to crawl or even less walk, with a very high level of uncertainty as result. It will probably get there in the end, but getting there takes a lot of time and experience. As for Improv, by the time it entered (the hardware) it provided nothing unique that developers could not find elsewhere. Also most people in my humble opinion already had given up on EOMA68 as a serious initiative due to the numerous problems that project had already seen. I still back the basic ideas of EOMA68, but not sure about the current realization of it, aiming purely at low end market in interface specifications. Also, it has to be realized that any such specification do have a fairly limited lifespan and needs to be revised regularly, which somewhat nullifies the benefits. A project like EOMA68 trying to break many new grounds needs early adopters willing to spend both money and time on getting things finalized, and I am fully convinced that early adopters are not the ones looking for the low-end range specifications. And with such project having a lifespan covering several years (not months like average Tablet project) interface specifications need to be such that it can be suitable for wide adoption in a two to three years time when enought is in place and tested, not yesterday. For the sake of software development Improv isn't really needed, and was not needed at the time of launch. There is and was fully OSHW solutions available that covers the hardware functionality of Improv (minus the exchangeable "CPU module" part). In particular I am thinking of Olimex Olinuxino A20 MICRO (and it's related cousins), giving the same performance specifications as the selected EOMA68-A20 module, but with much richer hardware interfacing capabilities and of course 100% OSHW, by a established manufacturer who works with believes in OSHW. I have much more to say on the subject, but enough for tonight. Feel free to contact me if you want me to elaborate further. Regarding refund of my Improv "investment". Don't sweat over it. I'd rather see you focus on moving forward than how to cover the refunds. Failures are all natural path of moving forward and learning. Regards Henrik

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eoma68-a20 litkconn 68-pin pcmcia connector
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

joe: litkconn P/N is 68F, drawing DWG-PCMCIA-052, MI209. stand-off is 0.3mm (standard for the 68F P/N). l.

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DTB for eoma-a20 pc?
by Wookey 27 Jun '14

27 Jun '14

I don't see a DTB file for the eoma-pc a20 (what is the correct name for this board BTW?) in http://d-i.debian.org/daily-images/armhf/daily/device-tree/ Now that mainline kernels should work fine on this board we need a DTB. I want to try this but am just wondering if someone has already sorted a DTB before I dive in a try to make one. It's presumably pretty close to the sun7i-a20-cubietruck.dtb or sun7i-a20-olinuxino-micro.dtb or sun7i-a20-cubieboard2.dtb dtbs? Given a DTB we expect debian-installer to 'just work' already, but that needs testing. Wookey -- Principal hats: Linaro, Emdebian, Wookware, Balloonboard, ARM http://wookware.org/

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eoma and qimod
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 26 Jun '14

26 Jun '14

well, i must apologise to everyone, the effect that the situation with aaron has had on my associate is more severe than i thought, and that is actually a *good* thing rather than a bad one. the original goal - which is at the very top of the rhombus tech web site - is the one that i wish to see happen. my associates it turns out wish to make money as the absolute sole exclusive top priority and they are prepared to sacrifice all and everything - principles, ethics, relationships and more - in the pursuit of that absolute pathological goal. so the first thing that happened was that the rhombus CIC was shut down without my being informed. the second was that i was signed up as a Director of QiMod Ltd without my signature, then removed when the situation with aaron occurred. in between, the idea (suggested by aaron) was floated to use trademarking to protect the EOMA concept (and more importantly the end-users from being harmed) by mis-implementation. i've now received demands for cash up-front license fees for the EOMA concept that *i designed*, when i was planning to work profitably *with* the very people demanding those fees. this basically means that the very principles that i founded the original goal on [to bring together software libre developers with mass-volume hardware manufacturers at every stage of the product process in a mutually beneficial way] are being _completely_ violated by the associates i thought i could trust to help make them happen. so, aaron, thank you for helping to create a situation in which i found that out now, rather than later. so i'm now at a major decision point... but let me be absolutely clear: i *will not* be sacrificing any principles or ethics, and i *will* be carrying on the goal. i will be making one last attempt to make this clear to my associates over the next few days, but if they cannot understand how important those principles and ethics are then i will be forced to carry on without them. last but most important thing to say for now: to the people who have donated money over the past couple of weeks, if you would like it refunded now, please let me know. l.

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New Micro Breakout Board? How To Quick & Dirty Expose Interfaces?
by Alexander Stephen Thomas Ross 23 Jun '14

23 Jun '14

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 while I wait for the micro desktop, I wonder howto connect to the rest of the interfaces on the board. stuff wires in the pin holes? hehe The err micro breakout board will need sata replacing with usb, so there might be a new batch? I wonder how hard it would be for me to make a ultra compact breakout board for my self, a quick and dirty one off.....? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJTqHfbAAoJEOk7fWIzE1KNCNQIANlGwxjUp5dYapUsCSN5u3tU 5HegLe+vl1rwDFRdq1cpC1OtWoPzshuaHbKxcfceOLywXUAnRwBJsWKvAUaSOVNF 0ft5B7ywLk5Gy4wnolJ971QLoLV7XTmpomL/HmN4247kikUKYRpPu+0A/4ZAuDMN BGzviOZ+niM1uOAJlFnn7XoF/FriHXPWvSvxCR2zHUZ23i1WSUhh+8isB/XOylXd F8LyR1sbEVDgsCwzXfHx3xkzf7T4GQQv+9xd4++kgtXKj6UU/MQvTN/B1nm7zn0b 0Beq2cll4j9kKZbvXeURs3K7K1reDfoDgyc3I3rTc/V8Gmjl9XNSFOFzMqjIpEY= =tXfT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[status] EOMA68-jz4775 CPU Card
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 21 Jun '14

21 Jun '14

third one: in cooperation with ingenic we will be doing a JZ4775-based CPU Card, i have received the schematics and PCB EVB files just today, this is a dual-core 1ghz MIPS SoC with a dual 1Ghz X-Burst Vector Processor that can do i believe it's 720p video decode and 3D graphics. it's entirely software-based - no proprietary GPU or VPU - which means it will also be FSF Endorseable (hooray!). again we will follow their progress into next year's products, i would expect them to have a quad-core out that can do 1080p video decode which would be awesome if they did. power consumption is really low on the ingenic SoCs. i will put this one with 1gb of RAM. the layout of the EVB is quite spread out, but i have made some measurements and it is *just* (barely) possible to leave the DDR3 RAM layout untouched, the SoC will almost be hard up against one edge and the RAM against the other: it is going to be very tight, so there will be no extra interfaces except for an SD/MMC Card. it does however have GbE which is fantastic, and there are two USBs (one USB 480mbit/sec and one 11mbit/sec) - i will route these both to the EOMA68 interface just out of sheer peversity. more later as it happens. l.

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ARM device - compiling linux software
by Michael Howard 21 Jun '14

21 Jun '14

Looking for another ARM device to assist in software builds, has anybody got any recommendations for a capable board/device available in the UK? I have some softwares/packages (not mine) that are just not cross-friendly. Cheers, Mike. --

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status 16jun14
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 16 Jun '14

16 Jun '14

jz4775 cpu card progressing, ddr3 crammed in, gigabit ethernet 80% done, about 25 components to still place, nand routing 95% done, PMIC 95% done, RGB/TTL routing 100% done, SD/MMC 98% done, planes/power lines 5% done. eoma68-a20, process initiated to get PCBs printed (handed over to someone else), likewise micro-desktop ic1 cpu card haven't looked at it in a week (busy with the jz4775), stands at about 60% done, needs a conversation with icubecorp. l.

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micro desktop
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 15 Jun '14

15 Jun '14

http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/micro_desktop/news/ as promised the micro desktop is being developed, news and features on the page. l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] ARM device - compiling linux software
by Erix 14 Jun '14

14 Jun '14

> > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 20:13:57 +0100 > From: Michael Howard <mike(a)dewberryfields.co.uk> > To: arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk > Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] ARM device - compiling linux software > Message-ID: <539212F5.7070608(a)dewberryfields.co.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed > > > On 06/06/2014 12:27, peter green wrote: > > Michael Howard wrote: > >> Looking for another ARM device to assist in software builds, has > >> anybody got any recommendations for a capable board/device available > >> in the UK? > > I like the wandboard quad myself, able to run debian armmp kernels, > > seems to be reasonablly stable (i've been running the autobuilders for > > raspbian jessie on them for a while with only occasional crashes which > > I half suspect are due to my use of btrfs), has an a9 quad core > > processor, 2GB ram, SATA and serial console (full RS232 levels too so > > no need to mess arround with level shifters). I'm not aware of any UK > > stockists but mouser ship quickly and handle all the VAT/customs BS > > from their end so there are no nasty financial surprises on delivery. > > > > > http://uk.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Wandboard/WBQUAD/?qs=cF9QIdCP5siVNjY/ywr… > > > > > Hi Mike, First of all, I don't have your experience & skill, but there is something I don't understand. If you previsouly used Axx Allwinner platforms in the past for making your packages I presume you're mainly using this platform as "production" platform. So if you are turning now to a Wandboard that has a FreeScale processor how will you manage? Are you going to use cross-compiling technic? If so, how/what do you think of the Radxa mini board on thes matters? What is your opinion? It looks cheaper than the Wandboard? http://radxa.com/specification/ Sorry in advance if I'm "out of subject". Thanks in advance for your comments. Regards Erix

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[status] eoma68-a20 and micro-desktop
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 13 Jun '14

13 Jun '14

ok thank you to two sponsors, we have enough to pay outright for the micro-desktop 1st prototype and part-way for the revised eoma68-a20 cpu card. one final check of the revised cpu card is needed (as well as waiting a little bit for some extra money) then it will be off to get the PCB checked and done etc. if anyone wants to take a punt on that they are more than welcome, i am planning to do just 5 but if anyone is happy to pay say.... $175 then you can have an early CPU Card with either 1gb or 2gb of RAM, it is your choice (and risk!). i will be getting 2 with 1gbyte and 3 with 2gbyte RAM done. l.

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Doubt about USB in EOMA-68.
by Miguel Garcia 13 Jun '14

13 Jun '14

Hi all, I've been looking at this: http://elinux.org/Embedded_Open_Modular_Architecture/EOMA-68#Table_of_EOMA-… Are all EOMA-68 obliged to have 2 USB 2.0 (the first on pin 30 and 64, the second on pin 34 and 68)? If in the future there is a EOMA-68 compatible with USB 3.0, would this USB 3.0 be associated with the first USB 2.0 or the second USB 2.0? We want to use the USB 3.0 to create a USB 3.0 port (with the current EOMA-68 only be compatible with USB 2.0, but we want to be compatible in the future with USB 3.0) and use the other USB 2.0 to connect internally the WIFI, the BT, the USB IC audio .... And we do not want that, in the future, some new EOMA-68 be incompatible with this because we have chosen the wrong USB. Thank you.

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quick update
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 12 Jun '14

12 Jun '14

* jz4775 board layout looks feasible (just). have had to squash the DDR3 address lines as there are no wiggles, only straight routing on the dev-board, the DDR3 is hard against one edge and the CPU hard against the other,i have to ask ingenic to check * micro-pc needs another review * 2nd revision EOMA68-A20 still to go to PCB factory for gerber checks * IC1 PCB pretty much done component layout. v busy sorry short status. l.

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[status] eoma68-ic1t
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 12 Jun '14

12 Jun '14

cpu cards being like buses, you wait for ages then 3 come along at once. i have been in touch with icubecorp, they have that awesome hybrid VPU/GPU/CPU core, and they decided to do a sub-$2.50 55nm 210-pin QFP out of it, running at 400mhz but quad-threaded. it's capable (on its own) of 720p video decode and 3D graphics *entirely* in software. the down-side is that this revision was designed as a low-entry android or embedded controller IC, so can only do up to 512mb RAM. they can do a respin but only with a large enough order. this will be one of the very first FSF-Endorseable CPU Cards and it will be the precursor to a more powerful version which we will do later. the BOM is something staggering like only $12 and that's including a SMC9514 USB-Ethernet Hub. it is juuuust about EOMA68 compliant and the only extra interface will be an SD/MMC card. it will boot from SPI NOR Flash so that will be deliberately very small (enough to hold a bootloader). l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] RK* thingies are fairly cheap, indeed, but I managed to brick one
by Erix 10 Jun '14

10 Jun '14

> Message: 3 > Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:11:26 -0400 > From: Stefan Monnier <monnier(a)iro.umontreal.ca> > To: arm-netbook(a)lists.phcomp.co.uk > Subject: Re: [Arm-netbook] ARM device - compiling linux software > Message-ID: > <jwvk38pin90.fsf-monnier+gmane.comp.hardware.netbook.arm(a)gnu.org> > Content-Type: text/plain > > >> It looks cheaper than the Wandboard? > >> http://radxa.com/specification/ > > Does look neat and yes, does appear to be cheaper. Might take a punt on > one > > actually, see if it cuts the mustard. Thanks for pointing it out. > > The RK* thingies are fairly cheap, indeed, but I managed to brick one > with a simple "dd" from Android and still haven't managed to unbrick it. > >From that point of view the Allwinner ones are very friendly (since you > can boot from uSD even with a completely broken nand flash). > > > Stefan > > Hi Stephan, I don't know if it could help you, but the Radxa Team post a tip/advice to "unbrick" their platform in case it happens. http://wiki.radxa.com/Rock/unbrick Regards Erix

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A33
by Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 04 Jun '14

04 Jun '14

On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 10:58 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: > http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:prYbhMDZblEJ:www.allwi… > > ok it's pin-compatible with the A23. with the removal of SATA and > replacement with USB it can be done. i'll ask for some PCB CAD files. > > l. > > On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 10:55 PM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton > <lkcl(a)lkcl.net> wrote: >> On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 10:14 PM, Paul NeoStormer >> <paulneostormer(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> So I can't find the page where this was discussed but I was told that the >>> reason we couldn't go to a Quad-Core processor A31 was not because of pin >>> compatibility but because it utilized a different graphics processor which >>> we didn't really have open source for, a PowerVR instead of the Mali-400. We >>> today they announced the A33 which uses the same Mali-400MP2 that the A20 >>> uses, so is it possible to go to quad-core now? >> >> ooooo yes! hooray! if it's pin-compatible with the A20 we can use >> it straight away. ok just checked the A23 datasheet: it's only a 16-bit DDR3 RAM interface, one USB2 and one USB-OTG. so something like the 9514 USB-Eth hub would be needed (the 9512 apparently gets veery hot). also apparently A23 only addresses 1gbyte of RAM, we'll see if the A33 goes up to 2. about powervr, you want luc's talk about the state of software libre reverse-engineering of GPUs. it turns out he's worked (in a proprietary environment) with powervr, so he knows that it is an absolute god-awful mess (hardware and software wise). his recommendation is to let imgtec stew, and to not even attempt the reverse-engineering *at all*, it's that bad. l.

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