Product Idea: USB Flash Drives

[barray]

Alright, let's take the first step with the BL602 as a PoC platform, if you agree.  Let's find out how the Quad-SPI interface on the BL602 actually works, how is it used on the software side, and if there any limitations to the total size of the SPI flash that can be connected that way.  Sounds like a plan?

I think creating a hat for this device already means that Pine are manufacturing half of the prototype for us. It also means we could then swap out the BL602 at a later date and make it a hat for another device.

It would be ideal to make the firmware modular, independent of the underlying hardware, and thus reusable as much as possible.  I'm unable to find the link to the library you've mentioned above in any of your recent posts...  Could you, please, post that link again?

https://github.com/hathach/tinyusb

I was looking for something like this https://www.hyperstone.com/en/USB-31-Con...-2129.html which is an integrated USB flash drive controller with some RISC core. The problem is that sourcing those in low volumes is usually pretty hard, Mouser seems to at least list them for 5-6EUR per piece, but I doubt that you can actually order only a few...

This looks very interesting.  According to Mouser, it is possible to have it ordered in low quantities.  Now, I wonder how could we get access to the API and SDK mentioned on the product web page?  Also, I wonder how far the "firmware customizations", as described by the manufacturer, can go on this controller?
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It looks very interesting for sure, but I also have concerns about how much firmware customization can be done. For example, we would probably have to sign an NDA just to get the documentation (just from the fact I cannot find it online) and we would be bound to a specific closed-source compiler to get their "special instructions". In any case, it will be a massive reverse-engineering undertaking. This is exactly what we're trying to get away from.

They do kindly sell an 8GB dev board for $250 USD: https://nz.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Hype...kmaQ%3D%3D

The controller is towards what we are trying to create, but it's just not aligned with how we want to get there.