[Arm-netbook] EOMA-68 Carrier Board Concept

[Christopher Thomas]

On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 9:32 PM, luke.leighton <luke.leighton at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 3:30 AM, Christopher Thomas
> <christopher at firemothindustries.com> wrote:
>
> >>  baaa.  floossie!
> >>
> >>  ... chris can you please try cutting context - replying with 2 lines
> >> but adding a duplicate copy of hundreds of lines we've already read
> >> becomes very very awkward.  iphone or no iphone it's not fair on the
> >> 300+ other readers.
> >
> >
> > I sincerely apologize, to you and everyone else.... My mail client
> > concatenates  and obscures long chains and automatically goes to the end
> of
> > the message, so I end up getting forgetful at times. Especially on
> extremely
> > long threads/chains.
>
>  lol - as one of the sysadmins i have to obey the rules, real pain.  i
> think gmail has to go, it's just got too awkward.
>

Yeah, not to happy with Gmail either (for other reasons), but I haven't
been able to get around to setting up the dedicated Mail Exchange for my
server yet so it's the best I could do in a pinch.

Anyway, back on topic... I edited the specs at
http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/carrier_board/<http://rhombus-tech.net/community_ideas/carrier_board/?updated>
to
include a second USB2 Hub slaved to the 4th USB3 Port With the EOMA's
singular USB Host routed to the USB3 IC. It is added with a caveat though
and should be noted that everything is subject to change.  I would prefer
to use the Microchip products, direct from them as they're readily
available and I can literally drive to the warehouse and pickup everything
in 20 minutes from here. I've been having a hard time finding a source of
the FE1.1 in the US, but just spoke to a Supplier in China, and he said
they could source 500 FE1.1 for .45c a piece, not bad.

Either way, It will bring the total to 3x USB3 Ports, and 2 Internal USB2
Headers (10pin).

Right now I am pricing things based not only on cost, but how readily
available the components are, and as local as possible. I've been lucky so
far in that I have been able to source MOST components at near China
prices, but without having to actually get the parts directly from China.

Also, I like the idea of withholding installation of the DIL Headers at the
factory, but I think, if it's possible, setting it up as an optional
feature would be the way to go. It's quite interesting the price of Headers
at places like Digikey/Mouser. For the MEB Orders, I went with the most
"cost efficient" method to lower everyone's price as much as possible and
still be able to order from one place, that meant buying 1x10 Headers and
making the 44pin, but even that was relatively costly. Then I happened to
stumble upon bags of 5-2x80 for $2 at Fry's. If I had found them first, it
would have saved everyone $.65c and me 2 minutes per board. I bought them
anyway, which by the way, 7 more MEBs are shipping tomorrow. After that, 7
remain, which I hope to also ship tomorrow if I have time, if not, they
will ship on Saturday. These last ones will have a 24awg wire connecting
Pins 1 and 11 on the Ethernet Connector,  and a jumper for D1. (The delay
was due to having to retrofit each one.) (Luke, can you think of any other
mods I should do?)

And one last thing. My new FTDI Cable and Capacitors should arrive
tomorrow, so hopefully I can finally start testing the SATA issues. I did
manage to fix the broken uUSB connector, luckily the solder job was so bad
that the pins were barely held onto the pads and no damage was done.
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