[Arm-netbook] [eoma68] mini desktop pc

[luke.leighton]

On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 9:14 AM, joem <joem at martindale-electric.co.uk> wrote:
> On Tue, 2013-12-03 at 11:35 +0000, luke.leighton wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 10:00 AM, joem <joem at martindale-electric.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> > 1. You need the internal 3.3V line brought out from EOMA68 to one of the
>> > pins for general circuit design reasons.
>>
>>  not going to happen.  sorry. designs need to take that into account.
>> apart from anything there will be boards in the future that don't
>> *have* a 3.3V line (for whatever reason).
>
> Not a request.
> The 3.3V line is the pull up line for GPIO lines.
> Something to get right in next revision.

 joe: it's still not going to happen.  there are not enough pins.  I/O
board designs will need to generate the correct 3.3v compatible TTL
levels by having the correct regulators on the I/O board.  as 3.3v TTL
levels are the same everywhere this is perfectly feasible.

 there is therefore not only enough pins available, but also this is a
non-issue.

 also there is the issue of backwards-compatibility if there are
revisions.  any further revisions require complexity to be introduced
into future revisions of both CPU Cards *and* I/O boards.  that is not
going to happen.

 therefore please accept that i have carefully considered what you
have said and the answer is no.


>> > 2. Not sure about the USD75. Is it going to get cheaper any time soon?
>>
>>  in quantity 10k and above, probably yes.  because they will be
>> designed differently.  and be a different product entirely.  so... no.
>>
>>  plus remember that $75 is for *two* boards, and tax, and shipping,
>> and testing, and packaging, and profit (a small one) and everything
>> else.
>
> Its $75 for CPU board and meb + shipping + taxes.

 yes.  QiMod Ltd is acting as the distributor, not the end-user
supplier.  the choice of price for the pair of boards, being supplied
by a 3rd party, is completely outside of QiMod Ltd's control.

>>
>> > 3. At the moment there is no way to cooperate with everyone using
>> >    closed sources PCB packages and the list of hardware mistakes
>> >    are piling up as cost somewhere. This is driving a wedge through
>> >    all things good and possible. I only want to work in open sourced
>> >    KiCAD. The limitations are not significant
>>
>>  they are a complete show-stopper for someone with my limited
>> available time, lack of knowledge and insufficient expertise.  simple
>> as that.
>
> KiCAD web site has added a lot more video tutorials recently.

 the tutorials are not relevant, here.  joe: i've been working with
KiCAD for around 4 to 5 years.  i am familiar with it.  compared to
PADS it has completely inadequate functionality and design rule safety
checks.

 regarding the speed at which designs can be created: that is
completely irrelevant if i am creating completely wrong designs, isn't
it?

 so until someone takes over designs who has the required knowledge
and expertise, i have to stick with "safe" software packages.

l.