PineTime Developer Kit

[futurejones]

I would like to get involved in the development of PineTime. There was mention in the forums that the developer kit would be available in the store but I can't find it anywhere. How do I get a developer kit?
Thanks.

[dreddit]

5th December according to TLLIM

[clover]

Oh damn that’s pretty soon! Cool

[kylepiira]

It's available now: https://store.pine64.org/?product=pinetime-dev-kit

[Paranoid]

Hi everybody,

I'm very much interested in the watch and will definitely get the final product once it's available. But I'm considering to buy the devkit already. I know it's more a developer's toy than a final product.

However: Can anybody tell or guess how close the hardware is to the final product? In other words: Can I make this what the final product will be by installing the final version of the software?

[Jeeves]

Hi everybody,

I'm very much interested in the watch and will definitely get the final product once it's available. But I'm considering to buy the devkit already. I know it's more a developer's toy than a final product.

However: Can anybody tell or guess how close the hardware is to the final product? In other words: Can I make this what the final product will be by installing the final version of the software?

If you don't have at least some modest soldering skills, the developer version is useless to you. The firmware that comes flashed on the thing is just a demo, and there's no way to flash anything else on to a devkit without soldering a SWD header to the watch and attaching a debug probe to it. Obviously if Pinetime ever ships as a finished product that won't be the case any longer.

If you're still interested after that, then it is possible the hardware will change a little bit. There's some talk about using the version of the microcontroller that has 512K of flash and 64K of RAM, rather than the version the devkit is using which has 256K of flash/32K RAM. Also, possibly including 8MB of external flash rather than 4MB. However, even if this happens then the device will be substantially unchanged. 

The extra external flash is pretty immaterial in my view, but if a version of the watch firmware is ever produced that supports third party applications then the extra RAM would mean that these apps could be larger and more complex. It is possible to imagine apps that would work on the upgraded watch but not the original devkit. This is imagining a future where Pinetime has an app ecosystem similar to the old Pebble watches, though. It's a bit speculative.

If you're interested and you're got some experience following open source build instructions, have some soldering skills and don't mind that you probably won't be able to wear the thing as a watch for a while yet, then you could get something out of the devkit as a pure user, not a developer. Otherwise, probably wait for a production watch.

[VMMainFrame]

Hi everybody,

I'm very much interested in the watch and will definitely get the final product once it's available. But I'm considering to buy the devkit already. I know it's more a developer's toy than a final product.

However: Can anybody tell or guess how close the hardware is to the final product? In other words: Can I make this what the final product will be by installing the final version of the software?

If you don't have at least some modest soldering skills, the developer version is useless to you. The firmware that comes flashed on the thing is just a demo, and there's no way to flash anything else on to a devkit without soldering a SWD header to the watch and attaching a debug probe to it. Obviously if Pinetime ever ships as a finished product that won't be the case any longer.

If you're still interested after that, then it is possible the hardware will change a little bit. There's some talk about using the version of the microcontroller that has 512K of flash and 64K of RAM, rather than the version the devkit is using which has 256K of flash/32K RAM. Also, possibly including 8MB of external flash rather than 4MB. However, even if this happens then the device will be substantially unchanged. 

The extra external flash is pretty immaterial in my view, but if a version of the watch firmware is ever produced that supports third party applications then the extra RAM would mean that these apps could be larger and more complex. It is possible to imagine apps that would work on the upgraded watch but not the original devkit. This is imagining a future where Pinetime has an app ecosystem similar to the old Pebble watches, though. It's a bit speculative.

If you're interested and you're got some experience following open source build instructions, have some soldering skills and don't mind that you probably won't be able to wear the thing as a watch for a while yet, then you could get something out of the devkit as a pure user, not a developer. Otherwise, probably wait for a production watch.

Strictly speaking you don't have to do any soldering.  One of the pictures of a sample setup shows the wires from the included cable just inserted in the holes on the motherboard.  The included firmware is useful and shows all the features of the hardware.  The back is not attached so it cannot be worn as a watch, although I taped the back to the watch and wore it while walking through a local park just to test the step counting.  It did not feel very secure and I would not wear it for long periods of time.

[cscott]

FWIW I plan to do as maiden did:

Drill a hole, bring out a small connector that can tuck under the watchband when I'm wearing it, then glue the back shut using something moderately reversible.

The result won't be especially waterproof, so certainly sometime I wouldn't go in the shower with (!) and I'd probably be cautious even outside in the rain. But I think (hope?) that it could be worn daily for someone suitably adventurous. And it's not expensive! So even if the rain gets it, it's not a huge monetary loss.

[tomthetaffer]

Lup Yuen had a good setup here - https://medium.com/@ly.lee/build-and-fla...5e14259c55

Seems a bit more beginner friendly for anyone who's interested.