Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 11:24 PM, Richard Wilbur
 wrote:

> It all sounds like fun!  What can I help with first?

well... perhaps... something simple like.. a simple program that tests
GPIO, assuming that say 4 hard-wires are connected between 8 GPIOs in
pairs, turning one into an input and the other an output, then setting
0 and 1 and seeing if it's read correctly... then inverting each pair
(out becomes in, in becomes out) and re-running the test.

 something in either c or python that uses the sunxi-3.4 gpio driver:
   
https://github.com/linux-sunxi/linux-sunxi/blob/stage/sunxi-3.4/drivers/gpio/gpio-sunxi.c

 that _should_ be exposed as /dev/gpio which should in turn appear in
either /sys or /proc... it should be a standard interface, with a
standard way to set which banks are activated... you might have to do
some digging.

 l.

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[Arm-netbook] Software as a Community Service

[Jean Flamelle]

In an ideal global community, there would be distributed to every
language-bearing living being a modicum of electronic networking and
information rendering hardware. That isn't going to be any day soon. I
identify with arguments against SaaS,---and posed them to Urbit's
bugtracker in issue 911---however software as a community service,
without any potential for personal or collective gain that couldn't
achieved by any kek of equal mind without prior reputation or special
location, will include people who cannot effectively have compiled or
rendered on their own. I would like to hear the arguments against
ubuntu's launchpad buildbots specifically, because, if there are none
specific to that case, I contend that every major libre project should
host a ppa on launchpad to include the people of Africa and the Orient
with limited devices not to mention youths of the world with limited
support from their living communities stuck in highly restrictive
computing environments lacking digital sovereignty over a physical
device.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Richard Wilbur]

It all sounds like fun!  What can I help with first?


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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:22 PM, Richard Wilbur  wrote:

> One downside of the 2.7.4 board at this point is the changes in capacitor 
> pricing that have been ameliorated only on version 2.7.5.  Here's hoping the 
> 2.7.5 board works!

 darn yeah i'd forgotten about the implications of the price-hike.  whoops.

> […]
>> software-wise i need something that does nothing more complex than
>> mount stuff on a micro-sd card, show boot messages on both screens,
>> and maybe has 2 keyboards plugged in (one into each USB socket) so
>> that they can bash some keys and see that crud comes up on-screen for
>> each.
>>
>> going beyond that... testing I2C, UART and the GPIO *sigh*...
>> that involves writing some software.
>
> I'd be happy to write some test software for I2C, UART, GPIO, etc.
>  I've worked on drivers for those interfaces on embedded machines in the past.
> I also have experience creating and implementing software and hardware test
> designs.  One example, I modified my employer's PCI VGA BIOS to test the card
> at boot which significantly streamlined testing of our cards.  Another 
> example,
> in order to test a design I created I2C driver and test code to demonstrate 
> feasibility
> on a prototype and then incorporated it into production code in the BIOS and 
> driver.

 nice!  well, this would be a lot simple: scan the I2C bus (lmsensors
debian package), see if a peripheral at address 0x51 comes up, if it
does _great_.  it's a few lines of shell script.

 UART: if i add a USB-to-UART adapter onto a "test" microdesktop unit,
if there's output on the console and it's not garbage, that's good
enough.

 the GPIO... yes, that's where some coding comes in.  there's actually
only a few pins spare, they're all on the 14-pin header of the
microdesktop board.  except for two which are intended for bit-banging
a separate I2C driver for VGA "EDID" detection


> Happy to collaborate on board bring up as well.

 great.

>   I've worked on bringing up in-house boards for two employers:
> PCI graphics cards (for which we used oscilloscope and completed someone
> else's programmable logic design), embedded computers in different modules
> of high-speed wireless communications links (tools used:  spectrum analyzer,
> oscilloscope, logic analyzer, PCI bus analyzer, MPEG protocol analysis
> software, processor In-Circuit Emulator, serial terminal).

 ooo fuuun :)

 honestly the board's pretty "mature" and a lot simpler than that.  no
PCI, no PCIe, it's all SD/MMC, UART, USB, I2C, SPI, RGB/TTL, that sort
of thing, where all of those have all worked in previous boards, no
reason why they shouldn't work in the 2.7.5 version (except i tidied
up the USB lines a bit... never keen on altering stuff that works...
ah well).

 on the actual board itself, it's so tightly integrated (and also
quite simple) that it tends to be an all-or-nothing.   does power
work, measure the voltages, yes no.  ok does plugging in USB-OTG only
have it show up on "lsusb" yes no.  yes ok great let's load the FEL,
does _that_ work, yes no, yes ok great, now does loading u-boot
directly into DDR3 RAM work, yes, no.

 the FEL (u-boot-spl) loader has a nice debug feature of displaying a
few lines of early UART.  so that's a really good way to tell if the
A20's alive.

 from there i can compile u-boot to look for a particular micro-sd
card slot, which it will scan, and show debug messages "SD card
detected" and so on.  i can do commands which list the partitions and
so on.

 it's pretty straghtforward: anything not working shows up really
quickly and easily.

> If you've got that covered, I'm happy playing the role of the ally
>  you can describe the problem to and who, through listening to
> your description, helps you see the solution!

 appreciated.

 ... y'know... when we get to the RISC-V 64-bit SoC then that's going
to be a lot trickier.  aside from anything it will be necessary to do
the DDR3 layout from scratch.  i can't stand doing DDR3 layouts,
they're... blegh :)  get it wrong and yeah you reaaaly need a logic
analyzer...

oh.  i have an RK3288 board that could use your help.  i only got one
of the DDR3 lanes up and running.

l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Richard Wilbur]

On Jan 8, 2018, at 07:57, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton  wrote:
>> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 2:28 PM, Neil Jansen  wrote:
>> I do completely agree with his
>> decision to get a few boards produced and tested before doing a complete
>> run.  Even with all the review, there are still plenty of possibilities for
>> show-stoppers.
> 
> the 2.7.4 board is the fallback.  it'll be... without an HDMI
> interface.  that's just the way it'll be.

One downside of the 2.7.4 board at this point is the changes in capacitor 
pricing that have been ameliorated only on version 2.7.5.  Here's hoping the 
2.7.5 board works!

[…]
> software-wise i need something that does nothing more complex than
> mount stuff on a micro-sd card, show boot messages on both screens,
> and maybe has 2 keyboards plugged in (one into each USB socket) so
> that they can bash some keys and see that crud comes up on-screen for
> each.
> 
> going beyond that... testing I2C, UART and the GPIO *sigh*...
> that involves writing some software.

I'd be happy to write some test software for I2C, UART, GPIO, etc.  I've worked 
on drivers for those interfaces on embedded machines in the past.  I also have 
experience creating and implementing software and hardware test designs.  One 
example, I modified my employer's PCI VGA BIOS to test the card at boot which 
significantly streamlined testing of our cards.  Another example, in order to 
test a design I created I2C driver and test code to demonstrate feasibility on 
a prototype and then incorporated it into production code in the BIOS and 
driver.

Happy to collaborate on board bring up as well.  I've worked on bringing up 
in-house boards for two employers:  PCI graphics cards (for which we used 
oscilloscope and completed someone else's programmable logic design), embedded 
computers in different modules of high-speed wireless communications links 
(tools used:  spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, logic analyzer, PCI bus 
analyzer, MPEG protocol analysis software, processor In-Circuit Emulator, 
serial terminal).

If you've got that covered, I'm happy playing the role of the ally you can 
describe the problem to and who, through listening to your description, helps 
you see the solution!

Sincerely,
Richard
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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 4:07 PM, Neil Jansen  wrote:

>>
>
> OK then, (A) is there a timetable for when he plans on having such a
> fixture ready?

 he isn't planning, i am.  any time in the next... 4 months is fine.
nothing could ever really be "planned" because there was no point
[with a previously unknown and unknowable time on the critical path].

> and (B) Do you have drawings for the fixture that you intend
> to give to him?

 no.  i met mike a year ago in shenzhen and discussed the need for a
test rig, not the actual details *of* a test rig.


> Or do you need help with the design?  Yes, in this case,
> I'm offering mechanical fixture design help if needed.

 hmm i tell you what [and importantly, why] - i feel it would be
best to let mike's guy come up with something based on a "requirements
specification".  that way he feels "needed and trusted" if you know
what i mean.

 if he ballses it up on the other hand... :)

>> i have!!  about six times!
>>
>
> I've been on the mailing list since May of 2017 and I don't recall seeing
> any direct calls for help in that department.

 the list's being going since... 2011.

> Not saying that you haven't,
> but I'm just saying that although I've read all the posts and all of the
> updates since that date, I've not seen a call for help in that area,
> because if I did, I probably would have stepped up and volunteered.  New
> people join all the time, and even more people lurk, so consider asking
> again.

 i forgot about that.  whoops :)

l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Neil Jansen]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 10:47 AM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton  wrote:

> the microdesktop 1.7 brings everything out.  as it's only 68 pins, 24
> of which are RGB/TTL, 4 are power, 8 are unused USB3, 7 are for
> micro-sd and 4 are for USB2, there's actually not a lot left.
>




>  that's the sort of thing that mike's in-house engineer does.
>

OK then, (A) is there a timetable for when he plans on having such a
fixture ready? and (B) Do you have drawings for the fixture that you intend
to give to him? Or do you need help with the design?  Yes, in this case,
I'm offering mechanical fixture design help if needed.



> i have!!  about six times!
>

I've been on the mailing list since May of 2017 and I don't recall seeing
any direct calls for help in that department.  Not saying that you haven't,
but I'm just saying that although I've read all the posts and all of the
updates since that date, I've not seen a call for help in that area,
because if I did, I probably would have stepped up and volunteered.  New
people join all the time, and even more people lurk, so consider asking
again.



>  well, that can begin to change when there's hardware in peoples' hands.
>

Very, very true.


> that would be awesome.
> http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/testing/ would be a good start.
>

That's a great start.


> [...] Shall I start a new thread?
>
>  sure.  great idea.
>

Will start one now.
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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

---
crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 3:32 PM, Neil Jansen  wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:57 AM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 
> wrote:
>
>>  the whole point of doing the computer cards is that the base units -
>> the Housings - *can* be done with 0603 and 0805 components, on 2 layer
>> PCBs.
>>
>
> Does the current housing design break EVERYTHING out?

 the microdesktop 1.7 brings everything out.  as it's only 68 pins, 24
of which are RGB/TTL, 4 are power, 8 are unused USB3, 7 are for
micro-sd and 4 are for USB2, there's actually not a lot left.

> Running a business is subjective,

 this isn't a business.  even the EOMA68 Certification process i will
put under a CIC (which is... _sort-of_ a "business" except not
really).

 under the rules of Certification Marks i'm *not allowed* to quotes
profit quotes or do anything that could be considered to be quotes
competing quotes with quotes businesses quotes.  several people have
actually already asked me, "um if i make a housing what's to stop you
from putting me out of business by making it yourself" and it's real
simple: Certification *inherently* prohibits that.



> and you can't make everyone happy.  As
> long as the discussion is civil and open, it's all good.
>
>
>
>>  yehyeh. i'll have to go over to shenzhen to get one set up, and work
>> with his engineers to make it really, _really_ easy to fit the Cards -
>> and Micro-Desktops - into the rig.  fixed (locked-down) cables, rails
>> / slides to put the PCBs in so that the connectors go straight in,
>> that sort of thing.
>>
>
> If you're in Shenzhen, there are a few of the markets that have booths
> where they'll make you an entire mechanical test rig, with pogo pins,
> DESTACO clamps, LCD screens, buttons, locks, slides, ports, you name it...
> Just give them a drawing (CAD or otherwise) and come back in a few days.
> The prices are unbelievably cheap.  Compared to my hourly rate, they're
> basically free.

 :)

 that's the sort of thing that mike's in-house engineer does.

>
>
>>  nobody's offered!
>>
>
> Why not ask the community directly, via the mailing list, and/or the next
> update?

 i have!!  about six times!

>  If you say that it's really important and that your time is better
> spent doing other important facets of the project, that might be what it
> takes for someone to step forward.
>
> I do feel sympathy because back when I ran an open-source hardware company
> with a mailing list, and I never got the community support that I needed,
> unless I begged and pleaded.  Everyone was happy to sit around and fire off
> emails and replies about how I was doing everything wrong, but nobody
> wanted to do any actual work.

 well, that can begin to change when there's hardware in peoples' hands.


>> well, the guy who mike employs, he's extremely good at making
>> mechanical rigs and stamps and so on.  he can easily put together
>> something that ensures that the workers don't damage the boards during
>> testing as the PCB will go into the rig "in only one physical way and
>> with one physical move".
>>
>>  software-wise i need something that does nothing more complex than
>> mount stuff on a micro-sd card, show boot messages on both screens,
>> and maybe has 2 keyboards plugged in (one into each USB socket) so
>> that they can bash some keys and see that crud comes up on-screen for
>> each.
>>
>>  going beyond that... testing I2C, UART and the GPIO *sigh*...
>> that involves writing some software.
>
>
> Sounds like you need a test plan document, in the form of a wiki page or
> HTML page on your website that documents exactly what you need to test, and
> how you plan to test it.  While I'm way too busy with back-taxes and
> overtime at work to actually write the code at the moment, I could
> certainly help put together a test plan document.

 that would be awesome.
http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/testing/ would be a good start.

> That's well within my
> skill set for sure.  If you'd like we could start a new thread to discuss.
> If I did find some time to write a bit of code, it would be Python because
> that's what I know best, and that might actually work well for a top-level
> testing interface, because it supports Unicode, and the Qt GUI bindings
> (PyQt5) would allow switchable translations.  As long as the low-level
> testing code could be called from commandline using existing tools, then
> the Python environment is really just a test executive that calls the
> actual test code.  Using the built-in Python unittesting framework would a
> good way to go here.  It doesn't produce a test report document at the end,
> but it will tell you whether everything passed or failed. As far as testing
> I2C, UART, GPIO, that's all very very doable!  Wraparound tests and
> fixtures and a bit of code is all you need there.  But first let's get a
> plan together!  Shall I start a new thread?

 

Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Neil Jansen]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:57 AM, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 
wrote:

>  the whole point of doing the computer cards is that the base units -
> the Housings - *can* be done with 0603 and 0805 components, on 2 layer
> PCBs.
>

Does the current housing design break EVERYTHING out?  Or only the more
important signals?

 if people don't like that, tough: they should have responded sooner.
>

I've got zero skin in the game, I'm not a backer of your campaign.  So yea,
don't kill yourself over my opinion of how you're managing this.  The
intention of saying that wasn't to derail the thread into bickering and
arguing, but just to point out that I call 'em like I see 'em.  While I
think you're wrong on many important points, I'll gladly point out when
you're doing something right but others are questioning you.  That's OK.
Running a business is subjective, and you can't make everyone happy.  As
long as the discussion is civil and open, it's all good.



>  yehyeh. i'll have to go over to shenzhen to get one set up, and work
> with his engineers to make it really, _really_ easy to fit the Cards -
> and Micro-Desktops - into the rig.  fixed (locked-down) cables, rails
> / slides to put the PCBs in so that the connectors go straight in,
> that sort of thing.
>

If you're in Shenzhen, there are a few of the markets that have booths
where they'll make you an entire mechanical test rig, with pogo pins,
DESTACO clamps, LCD screens, buttons, locks, slides, ports, you name it...
Just give them a drawing (CAD or otherwise) and come back in a few days.
The prices are unbelievably cheap.  Compared to my hourly rate, they're
basically free.



>  nobody's offered!
>

Why not ask the community directly, via the mailing list, and/or the next
update?  If you say that it's really important and that your time is better
spent doing other important facets of the project, that might be what it
takes for someone to step forward.

I do feel sympathy because back when I ran an open-source hardware company
with a mailing list, and I never got the community support that I needed,
unless I begged and pleaded.  Everyone was happy to sit around and fire off
emails and replies about how I was doing everything wrong, but nobody
wanted to do any actual work.  I think the word in the USA is 'peanut
gallery'.  I couldn't trust them any farther than I could throw them, when
it came to doing real work.  In the open-source hardware world, everyone
gets entitled and wants you to give, give, give, and nobody really stops
and thinks about what they can give back (other than their opinions and
criticisms of course).  So yea.  It's an expectation management problem for
sure.  But still it's worth asking.  You never know.  We had a few guys
really step up and deliver.. it was like 0.5% of our list size but hey I'll
take what I can get.


> well, the guy who mike employs, he's extremely good at making
> mechanical rigs and stamps and so on.  he can easily put together
> something that ensures that the workers don't damage the boards during
> testing as the PCB will go into the rig "in only one physical way and
> with one physical move".
>
>  software-wise i need something that does nothing more complex than
> mount stuff on a micro-sd card, show boot messages on both screens,
> and maybe has 2 keyboards plugged in (one into each USB socket) so
> that they can bash some keys and see that crud comes up on-screen for
> each.
>
>  going beyond that... testing I2C, UART and the GPIO *sigh*...
> that involves writing some software.


Sounds like you need a test plan document, in the form of a wiki page or
HTML page on your website that documents exactly what you need to test, and
how you plan to test it.  While I'm way too busy with back-taxes and
overtime at work to actually write the code at the moment, I could
certainly help put together a test plan document.  That's well within my
skill set for sure.  If you'd like we could start a new thread to discuss.
If I did find some time to write a bit of code, it would be Python because
that's what I know best, and that might actually work well for a top-level
testing interface, because it supports Unicode, and the Qt GUI bindings
(PyQt5) would allow switchable translations.  As long as the low-level
testing code could be called from commandline using existing tools, then
the Python environment is really just a test executive that calls the
actual test code.  Using the built-in Python unittesting framework would a
good way to go here.  It doesn't produce a test report document at the end,
but it will tell you whether everything passed or failed. As far as testing
I2C, UART, GPIO, that's all very very doable!  Wraparound tests and
fixtures and a bit of code is all you need there.  But first let's get a
plan together!  Shall I start a new thread?
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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

---
crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 2:28 PM, Neil Jansen  wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 4:32 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:
>
>> did you ever think about in investing in small PNP machine (or just small
>> oven plus some hand tools), like being able to produce small batch in house
>> and test it qucikly?
>>
>
> No, this would be a horrible idea, I speak from experience here.  If the
> end-product had a few parts (Arduino-ish, BOM < 30 parts), if the smallest
> passives were 0603's and if the smallest IC's were SSOP's, then yea it
> MIGHT be doable.  But the EOMA68 board has BGA's and (I'm guessing) 0402's
> and likely some 0201's?

 deliberately no 0201s.  you can't pick them up.

>> do you have any idea how reliable www.openpnp.org project is currently,
>> for
>> example to meet your specs on board with soem available hardware?
>>
>
> I know the author of that program personally, I hired him and paid him to
> work on that program for a few months as we tried to make a small desktop
> machine that could do solder paste application and reflow in addition to
> pick and place.

 cool!

> It's not exactly easy for me to say this either, because my dream was to
> make a machine for projects like EOMA68; to make the development cycle
> cheaper and quicker.  I failed in that regard, and honestly nobody out
> there has really nailed it to the point where you could start churning out
> single board computers with BGA's an tiny parts and get close to 100%
> yields, in a DIY setup.  It's sad but that's the reality that we live in.

 the whole point of doing the computer cards is that the base units -
the Housings - *can* be done with 0603 and 0805 components, on 2 layer
PCBs.

> For the record, while I vehemently disagree with LKCL on other matters like
> 3D printing and funding via bitcoin mining,

 well, if you have any ideas which stand a chance of fulfilling the
goals that have been set i'd like to hear them.  i didn't hear from
anyone when i asked, several times, for help with sponsorship,
contracts or anything else, so i had to make my own decisions.
urgently.

 if people don't like that, tough: they should have responded sooner.
i can't wait for people: i have to actually make *decisions*.


> I do completely agree with his
> decision to get a few boards produced and tested before doing a complete
> run.  Even with all the review, there are still plenty of possibilities for
> show-stoppers.

 the 2.7.4 board is the fallback.  it'll be... without an HDMI
interface.  that's just the way it'll be.


> The only suggestion that I would make -- and it's a big one -- is to send
> Mike (at the factory) a full test rig that is capable of verifying that an
> EOMA68 card works properly.

 yehyeh. i'll have to go over to shenzhen to get one set up, and work
with his engineers to make it really, _really_ easy to fit the Cards -
and Micro-Desktops - into the rig.  fixed (locked-down) cables, rails
/ slides to put the PCBs in so that the connectors go straight in,
that sort of thing.

 the less time the better.

> This is an essential step of every production
> run, and I'm honestly surprised that in the update LKCL is planning on
> doing that himself. which pushes the schedule out to the right by another 3
> days.  This test rig would merely be a little board that the card plugs
> into, with HDMI monitor, keyboard, and some testing software to test the
> memory (Memtest86+), hard drive, peripherals, etc.  Once production is
> going, the factory will need to be testing them anyway before they leave,
> this would be a good opportunity to test them, yet I saw nothing about that
> in any of the updates or email traffic.

 i've mentioned it... half a dozen times over the past... 18-24
months.  in several updates and several times on the mailing list.


> Even if this is something that
> LKCL personally does not have time to work on, surely someone in the forum
> could take on this task.

 that would be really handy.

> So how were you planning on approaching the
> factory testing?  If you've got it all figured out, then why isn't it going
> to be used for the next immediate run?

 because i do the testing here, one at a time, here.  take micro-sd
card, take the PCMCIA header i've wired a 5V USB connector to and a
UART, plug it in and go.  otherwise i have to pay mike or one of
mike's engineers to do it.

> And if you've not had time to get
> to it at all yet, why not let someone on the mailing list work on it?

 nobody's offered!

> I can certainly give a lot of advice in this department.  Hardware and
> software testing of embedded modules is not only what I do at my day job, I
> had a lot of experience while living in Shenzhen in how to make test
> fixtures for embedded products.  I've got advice on how to make them
> bilingual so that they can actually be used in the factory by non-English
> speaking test technicians, and lots 

Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Neil Jansen]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 4:32 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:

> did you ever think about in investing in small PNP machine (or just small
> oven plus some hand tools), like being able to produce small batch in house
> and test it qucikly?
>

No, this would be a horrible idea, I speak from experience here.  If the
end-product had a few parts (Arduino-ish, BOM < 30 parts), if the smallest
passives were 0603's and if the smallest IC's were SSOP's, then yea it
MIGHT be doable.  But the EOMA68 board has BGA's and (I'm guessing) 0402's
and likely some 0201's?  The yield rate in a DIY situation would be
prohibitive.  It is actually cheaper to pay the labor rates and NRE's to a
professional that has a process that's dialed in, and a line of machines
that aren't toys.



> do you have any idea how reliable www.openpnp.org project is currently,
> for
> example to meet your specs on board with soem available hardware?
>

I know the author of that program personally, I hired him and paid him to
work on that program for a few months as we tried to make a small desktop
machine that could do solder paste application and reflow in addition to
pick and place.

OpenPnP works, but that's not the issue.  Stencil printing issues and
reflow issues would still make the yield horrible.  Cheap manual stencil
printers lead to issues like tombstoning.  Cheap reflows don't get the heat
even, which means that certain parts of the board don't get fully
soldered.  There's a reason that the professional machines are several
meters long with various temperature zones and there's a reason that they
take a bit of effort to setup correctly.  Even if he got some surplus
machinery and an area to set it up (including ducting for the exhaust and
three-phase AC hookup), there's still the issue of nailing down the actual
process, there's just so much to go wrong and that's why so many companies
leave that sort of stuff to other companies that are better situated to
deal with those kind of problems.

It's not exactly easy for me to say this either, because my dream was to
make a machine for projects like EOMA68; to make the development cycle
cheaper and quicker.  I failed in that regard, and honestly nobody out
there has really nailed it to the point where you could start churning out
single board computers with BGA's an tiny parts and get close to 100%
yields, in a DIY setup.  It's sad but that's the reality that we live in.


For the record, while I vehemently disagree with LKCL on other matters like
3D printing and funding via bitcoin mining, I do completely agree with his
decision to get a few boards produced and tested before doing a complete
run.  Even with all the review, there are still plenty of possibilities for
show-stoppers.

The only suggestion that I would make -- and it's a big one -- is to send
Mike (at the factory) a full test rig that is capable of verifying that an
EOMA68 card works properly.  This is an essential step of every production
run, and I'm honestly surprised that in the update LKCL is planning on
doing that himself. which pushes the schedule out to the right by another 3
days.  This test rig would merely be a little board that the card plugs
into, with HDMI monitor, keyboard, and some testing software to test the
memory (Memtest86+), hard drive, peripherals, etc.  Once production is
going, the factory will need to be testing them anyway before they leave,
this would be a good opportunity to test them, yet I saw nothing about that
in any of the updates or email traffic.  Even if this is something that
LKCL personally does not have time to work on, surely someone in the forum
could take on this task.  So how were you planning on approaching the
factory testing?  If you've got it all figured out, then why isn't it going
to be used for the next immediate run?  And if you've not had time to get
to it at all yet, why not let someone on the mailing list work on it?  I
can certainly give a lot of advice in this department.  Hardware and
software testing of embedded modules is not only what I do at my day job, I
had a lot of experience while living in Shenzhen in how to make test
fixtures for embedded products.  I've got advice on how to make them
bilingual so that they can actually be used in the factory by non-English
speaking test technicians, and lots of other advice.  Just let me know.
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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 10:41 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:

> But if you are small, starting business producing 100 pcs in house looks
> like good option.

 yehyeh absolutely.  i am however extremely lucky with mike, he will
tolerate 100 pcs orders.

l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Hrvoje Lasic]

On 8 January 2018 at 11:06, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 
wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:32 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:
> > agree on your points.
> >
> > did you ever think about in investing in small PNP machine (or just small
> > oven plus some hand tools), like being able to produce small batch in
> house
> > and test it qucikly?
>
>  yehyeh, i did - at one point.  although mike only charges abouuut...
> USD $300-400 for assembly.plus... i need to have a stable base
> otherwise i am disassembling equipment and shipping it overseas.
>
>  last year i borrowed someone's equipment, i managed to do two of the
> RK3288 boards.  RAM ICs $12 each (QTY 4 so that's... $48 in RAM
> ICs...), 650-pin 0.5mm pitch BGA processor $12 you get that wrong
> it's f*g expensive.
>
>  by contrast whomever mike uses, apart from not filling in the huge
> 3mm hole under the AXP209 (i've now changed that to a hatch-pattern of
> about 15 small vias), i haven't actually had a board failure except
> where the USB-OTG and Micro-HDMI connectors had to be hand-soldered.
>
> > do you have any idea how reliable www.openpnp.org project is currently,
> for
> > example to meet your specs on board with soem available hardware?
>
> i did investigate openpnp - the critical thing if you are going to
> make one of those is, the rod across to the other side to keep the 2
> belts in sync is **NOT** optional.  the distance (span) is too great
> (600mm) for a single belt to reliablly keep the head position (H
> style) steady by driving only ONE side of the horizontal part of the
> "H".  you MUST put the rod across so that the motor drives BOTH sides
> of the horizontal cross bar EQUALLY.
>
>  here's the thing: if i was intending to manufacture boards "from
> home", no problem.  set up a nice business, stay in one plce,
> become a home-grown electronics factory, maybe in 10 years have a nice
> retirement fund.   it's a nice thought, isn't it? :)  but i'm not
> going there... that's not my life's purpose.
>
> l.
>

Agree, but I am more thinking in getting through lets say between 10 and
couple of hundred board production. If you have 1000 pcs and stable pcb
most likely you will order that in China.

But that point that really kicks from zero to 1000 is critical as well as
fast prototyping.

But from perspective of your current project maybe not an issue as you need
to produce it in qty, also later hopefully 1000 pcs may be not issue.

But if you are small, starting business producing 100 pcs in house looks
like good option.
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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:32 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:
> agree on your points.
>
> did you ever think about in investing in small PNP machine (or just small
> oven plus some hand tools), like being able to produce small batch in house
> and test it qucikly?

 yehyeh, i did - at one point.  although mike only charges abouuut...
USD $300-400 for assembly.plus... i need to have a stable base
otherwise i am disassembling equipment and shipping it overseas.

 last year i borrowed someone's equipment, i managed to do two of the
RK3288 boards.  RAM ICs $12 each (QTY 4 so that's... $48 in RAM
ICs...), 650-pin 0.5mm pitch BGA processor $12 you get that wrong
it's f*g expensive.

 by contrast whomever mike uses, apart from not filling in the huge
3mm hole under the AXP209 (i've now changed that to a hatch-pattern of
about 15 small vias), i haven't actually had a board failure except
where the USB-OTG and Micro-HDMI connectors had to be hand-soldered.

> do you have any idea how reliable www.openpnp.org project is currently, for
> example to meet your specs on board with soem available hardware?

i did investigate openpnp - the critical thing if you are going to
make one of those is, the rod across to the other side to keep the 2
belts in sync is **NOT** optional.  the distance (span) is too great
(600mm) for a single belt to reliablly keep the head position (H
style) steady by driving only ONE side of the horizontal part of the
"H".  you MUST put the rod across so that the motor drives BOTH sides
of the horizontal cross bar EQUALLY.

 here's the thing: if i was intending to manufacture boards "from
home", no problem.  set up a nice business, stay in one plce,
become a home-grown electronics factory, maybe in 10 years have a nice
retirement fund.   it's a nice thought, isn't it? :)  but i'm not
going there... that's not my life's purpose.

l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Hrvoje Lasic]

agree on your points.

did you ever think about in investing in small PNP machine (or just small
oven plus some hand tools), like being able to produce small batch in house
and test it qucikly?

do you have any idea how reliable www.openpnp.org project is currently, for
example to meet your specs on board with soem available hardware?

On 8 January 2018 at 10:15, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 
wrote:

> ---
> crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:08 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:
> > does it make sense before mass produce, make i.e 5 pcs and test?
>
>  question.  would it be better to make 1000, only to discover that
> there's a fatal undetected design flaw?
>
> > I understand PCB have been tested already,
>
>  2.7.4 - which is COMPLETELY different layout from 2.7.5 - has been tested.
>
>  2.7.5 has not.
>
>  even one track wrong - especially if it is in the middle layers - can
> result in a fatal error.  that's ONE change!!
>
>  on the original DS113 board from 4(!) years ago, the person doing the
> layout FAILED to run DRC before sending it to production.  he had laid
> a track that crossed over a pad.  it was a pretty damn obvious
> mistake.
>
>  we paid USD 10,000 to that team.
>
> l.
>
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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

---
crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:08 AM, Hrvoje Lasic  wrote:
> does it make sense before mass produce, make i.e 5 pcs and test?

 question.  would it be better to make 1000, only to discover that
there's a fatal undetected design flaw?

> I understand PCB have been tested already,

 2.7.4 - which is COMPLETELY different layout from 2.7.5 - has been tested.

 2.7.5 has not.

 even one track wrong - especially if it is in the middle layers - can
result in a fatal error.  that's ONE change!!

 on the original DS113 board from 4(!) years ago, the person doing the
layout FAILED to run DRC before sending it to production.  he had laid
a track that crossed over a pad.  it was a pretty damn obvious
mistake.

 we paid USD 10,000 to that team.

l.

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Re: [Arm-netbook] Crowsupply update

[Hrvoje Lasic]

does it make sense before mass produce, make i.e 5 pcs and test?

I understand PCB have been tested already, there is Chinese NT coming and
most certainly all is ok but still!

On 8 January 2018 at 09:31, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton 
wrote:

> oh that was quick, mike :)
> ---
> crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 8:29 AM, mike.v...@gmail.com 
> wrote:
> > https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68/micro-desktop/updates/
> eoma68-a20-2-7-5-gerbers-off-to-factory-thank-you-to-
> everyone-for-the-sponsorship
> >
> > ___
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