FCDEV3B status update

Mychaela Falconia mychaela.falconia at gmail.com
Thu Oct 26 05:18:57 UTC 2017


Hello FreeCalypso community,

I've got an update to the FCDEV3B User's Manual:

https://www.freecalypso.org/members/falcon/fcdev3b/fcdev3b-userman-1.9.pdf

The changes from the previous version are:

* The FFS and its content have been documented (section 3.4);

* The description of the analog loudspeaker and microphone in
  Appendix A has been updated for the current reality: the loudspeaker
  driver and mic input circuits on the FCDEV3B itself are proven good,
  having been tested with TI's D-Sample handset, but we do not yet
  have loudspeaker and mic parts of our own (not TI's historical test
  handset) to connect to these circuits.

I also have the following experimental loudspeaker and microphone
parts on order from Digi-Key:

PUI AS01508AO-WP-R (speaker)
CUI CMC-9745-130T (mic)

The loudspeaker part was chosen based on a discussion with Digi-Key's
Applications Engineering, and the microphone part was chosen based on
its physical size - it is the biggest I could find, for easier
soldering.  The parts on order are supposed to arrive next week, and
then it will probably be another couple of weeks or so before I can
test them.  Thus the work toward our own loudspeaker and mic for the
FCDEV3B is slowly trudging along.

I also just received the following parts from my trusty Chinese chip
supplier:

* The exact same version of the Calypso chip as used by Openmoko;
* The exact same version of the Iota chip as used by Openmoko;
* The exact same version of the Rita chip as used by Openmoko;
* The same Samsung K5A3281CTM flash+RAM chip as used by Openmoko.

I only ordered 10 pieces of each of the above to reduce the cost, as
the purpose of this part order was solely to facilitate a series of
experiments seeking to shed some light on the mysterious sleep mode
bug which manifests on our FCDEV3B hardware but not on Openmoko's hw.

The first experiment I would like to try in this line of investigation
is to assemble another batch of 4 FCDEV3B boards (one PCB panel) using
the Openmoko-matching Calypso and Iota chips with RoHS solder balls I
just got, as well as the Openmoko-matching TRF6151CJ version of the
Rita chip, and using RoHS solder like OM did.  Aside from the cost of
the parts which I've already covered with my own personal funds, this
experiment will cost about $400 USD.  This cost can be covered in one
of three ways:

* If anyone buys an FCDEV3B board from our currently available stock
  (the sleep mode bug is there in the hw, but sleep modes are disabled
  in the fw), I will use the money from the sale to fund the
  experiment described above.

* If anyone makes a no-strings-attached donation to FreeCalypso of
  $400 USD or more, I will likewise use that money to fund the just-
  described experiment before anything else.

* If neither of the above happens, I expect to be able to perform this
  experiment with my own personal funds some time in the spring of 2018.

Regarding the first of the options above, let me reiterate that our
current FCDEV3B boards are available for retail sale for $500 USD each.
The $500 USD price includes the bare board itself, the screw-on GSM
antenna and a Weidmuller 1716330000 connector for making your own
power supply cable, but no ready-made power supply or FT2232D adapter.
The latter two accessories (a ready-made power adapter from AC mains
to 3.6 VDC and the FT2232D adapter board plus jumper wires) are
available for $50 extra each, i.e., $600 USD total for a complete kit
with all available accessories.  No loudspeaker or microphone are
included, but the associated circuits on the FCDEV3B itself are known
to be good, and the loudspeaker and mic part numbers I am currently
about to experiment with are listed above.

Some time in the next week or so I hope to get around to updating our
web pages to reflect the availability of the boards as just outlined.

Hasta la Victoria, Siempre,
Mychaela aka The Mother


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