laser engraving the lid and other plans.
#1
Just got my pinebook two days ago.To get my feet wet with modding I decided to start small and do a simple case mod. I have access to a laser cutter at work, so I tried engraving a light pattern on the lid. There were a few problems with alignment but I think it turned out pretty neat.
[Image: 22rczC0.jpg]

Next up I would like to design a replacement for the small companion pcb in the pinebook. The plan is to keep the original functionality while adding a small FPGA either a Spartan 3A or an ice40. This way I can have some fast reconfigurable IOs with a USB bus to the SOC. Does anyone know if the layout for a small board is available somewhere?
#2
Looks really good! Which reminds me I intended to add LTE to my Pinebook... but then I got consumed by another project and completely forgot about it.  

As for your question, all schematics for all devices are available in their respective subsections on the wiki. For your convenience here's a direct link 

edit: wiki will soon open up to forum members, if you end up incorporating a FPGA into the PB make sure to create an entry in the Project section.
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


#3
(10-24-2017, 02:20 AM)Luke Wrote: Looks really good! Which reminds me I intended to add LTE to my Pinebook... but then I got consumed by another project and completely forgot about it.  

As for your question, all schematics for all devices are available in their respective subsections on the wiki. For your convenience here's a direct link 

edit: wiki will soon open up to forum members, if you end up incorporating a FPGA into the PB make sure to create an entry in the Project section.
Yeah having the schematics available is the main reason I got my pinebook. Having the layout also available would probably be too good to be true. I guess I will whip out my calipers and make all the measurements by hand. My main concern is having all the connectors on my custom board line up with the cutouts on the case. As for LTE I would think that just getting a usb dongle and stashing it in the case would do the trick? Layout for a custom LTE RF front end is kinda black magic and that's not a project I would want to tackle. 
BTW nice cabinet!
#4
(10-24-2017, 02:39 AM)bits_and_wires Wrote:
(10-24-2017, 02:20 AM)Luke Wrote: Looks really good! Which reminds me I intended to add LTE to my Pinebook... but then I got consumed by another project and completely forgot about it.  

As for your question, all schematics for all devices are available in their respective subsections on the wiki. For your convenience here's a direct link 

edit: wiki will soon open up to forum members, if you end up incorporating a FPGA into the PB make sure to create an entry in the Project section.
Yeah having the schematics available is the main reason I got my pinebook. Having the layout also available would probably be too good to be true. I guess I will whip out my calipers and make all the measurements by hand. My main concern is having all the connectors on my custom board line up with the cutouts on the case. As for LTE I would think that just getting a usb dongle and stashing it in the case would do the trick? Layout for a custom LTE RF front end is kinda black magic and that's not a project I would want to tackle. 
BTW nice cabinet!

PCB layout ? I'll ask in IRC as I honestly don't know. 

And yes, I wanted to splice in LTE and GPS dongles as there's plenty of space in the 14" case.
You can find me on IRC, Discord and Twitter


#5
I would be interested in helping with the ICE40 design. How far alone is project ice storm now?

It would be really interesting to get a ICE40 on board to do things with CSI and other high speed realtime peripherals.
#6
(10-25-2017, 02:19 PM)machinehum Wrote: I would be interested in helping with the ICE40 design. How far alone is project ice storm now?

It would be really interesting to get a ICE40 on board to do things with CSI and other high speed realtime peripherals.

Icestorm seems to be doing just fine. Unfortunately I don't think it has the luxury of all of the nice tools like Xiinx chipscope. It will synthesize and do place and route which is a huge step forward for the FPGA community. 

At the moment this project is just in the planning stage. I was mislead by the small board schematic showing a PCIE lane going from the SOC to the small PCB. Looking further at the main board schematic I realized that this is not the case, and instead those differential lines are used for HDMI. This leaves USB as the only high speed bus available for communicating with the SOC, which means that the requirements for the FPGA are quite relaxed. It seems that ICE40 would fit the bill nicely, because we should be able to build firmware directly on the pinebook without having to resort to an x86 host and a jtag programmer. The programmer and general purpose communication with the SOC could share the same USB port as shown in this project, which keeps the BOM low. 
 
I am dealing with some midterms right now, but in about a month I will start working on the schematics. I think my plan right now is to reuse the HDMI port as the digital IO for the FPGA while preserving the usb port, but if the space constraints are too complicated I may omit the USB port as well.

Anyways these are just some thoughts,  if you would like to get involved PM me and I will give you a link to the github once I set it up.
#7
(10-26-2017, 04:23 PM)bits_and_wires Wrote:
(10-25-2017, 02:19 PM)machinehum Wrote: I would be interested in helping with the ICE40 design. How far alone is project ice storm now?

It would be really interesting to get a ICE40 on board to do things with CSI and other high speed realtime peripherals.

I am dealing with some midterms right now

As am I. PM sent.
#8
(10-24-2017, 02:39 AM)bits_and_wires Wrote:
(10-24-2017, 02:20 AM)Luke Wrote: Looks really good! Which reminds me I intended to add LTE to my Pinebook... but then I got consumed by another project and completely forgot about it.  

As for your question, all schematics for all devices are available in their respective subsections on the wiki. For your convenience here's a direct link 

edit: wiki will soon open up to forum members, if you end up incorporating a FPGA into the PB make sure to create an entry in the Project section.
Yeah having the schematics available is the main reason I got my pinebook. Having the layout also available would probably be too good to be true. I guess I will whip out my calipers and make all the measurements by hand. My main concern is having all the connectors on my custom board line up with the cutouts on the case. As for LTE I would think that just getting a usb dongle and stashing it in the case would do the trick? Layout for a custom LTE RF front end is kinda black magic and that's not a project I would want to tackle. 
BTW nice cabinet!

I, as an enthusiast myself, assembled my devices on stepper motors (RepRap or MakeBlockplotterXY2.0 kit), as it is an exciting complex task of interface of electronics and firmware, guides and stepper motors. Since the laser housing has several holes with a thread, it is universal in terms of fastening to the device. We have already successfully fixed the laser to 3D printers (Wanhao Duplicator i3, BFB3DTouch, Prusa) and DIY-designers (on universal aluminum frames, MakeBlock).
[Image: 87d0df.jpg]
I found that there is a lot of software that you can use to work with lasers? These are programs that convert raster images to vector, and vector ones to gcode. For example, free distributed programs InkScape, SketchUp, GBRLcontroller, Repetierhost, Cura. Also, low-power (~ 500-1000 mW) lasers work very well. For example, here  I found a very good table with the characteristics of various engravers and was pleasantly surprised at both the price and the possibilities. In addition to the standard drawing of drawings on materials, the laser makes it possible to cut the material and create stencils for etching or welding![Image: dbd710.jpg]


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