New PCB rev on the horizon

Topics regarding the Uzebox hardware/AVCore/BaseBoard (i.e: PCB, resistors, connectors, part list, schematics, hardware issues, etc.) should go here.
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

Post by D3thAdd3r »

I quadruple checked continuity so I have to believe you are right on the capacitors. It wouldn't be too bad of a modification anyways to simple remove the 725 and bridge the capacitors. I will have to give it another try and see.
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uze6666
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

Post by uze6666 »

I finally received the ESP-12e modules and assembled a board. Murphy's law, I have a small snag...pin 9 of the ESP is not routed. :( At least patching is simple since pin 9 is ground and pin 10 is routed and also ground. So just have to do a small solder bridge. It connects correctly to the module so all seems good on that front. Will test the other pieces later this week.

Lee, can't recall, didn't you make a setup tool with baud auto-detect? That would certainly help.
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

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Yes it *should* get any module with any firmware connected to wifi besides other stuff not finished yet. Been a bit since last peogress, I will fix it up and PM that to you later tonight. I'd like to verify your results with 115200 later also, but for now this thing attempts to get the module to 57600 no matter what it starts at.
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

Post by D3thAdd3r »

Hope it works on your end. I built a setup to swap the ESP8266 between the Uzenet module and a 5v serial cradle(Arduino) setup. I put it in the cradle and manually set "AT+CIOBAUD=xxxx\r\n" in the console window to screw the baud rate up then plug it back into Uzebox and pull a reset. As far as I have seen, any normal value such as 9600,14400,19200,28800,38400,57600,76800,115200 is detected and I suspect slower values would also work.

Looks really good with better proportions than previous revisions with the MIDI placeholder. Did you get a chance to solder on the SPI ram and test that as well?
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Artcfox
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

Post by Artcfox »

Looks very nice! Did you skip the luma trap on this one?
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uze6666
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

Post by uze6666 »

Thanks for the tool Lee. I did not have time to play on this tonight, more tomorrow. I have ordered parts from digikey with some spi rams and other caps to test the luma trap that is wrong right now. So that's why both are not mounted.
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

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Initially I didn't put the luma trap and after Clay Cowgill made the AVCore, I blindly followed his schematic since he was the "real" engineer! That said, seems you are right, it's tuned to PAL. :? No wonder I never was too impressed with the luma trap. I'll order some 27pf to see how it looks.
Got my parts. I tested using mode9/80 (480x240) using all white fonts. Sorry no pics, I can't take pictures that shows anything good with my camera.
  • no luma trap: terrible color fringing, really look like Apple ][ color modes!
  • luma trap+18pf: Much better still with some slight color artifact remaining
  • luma trap+27pf: Yet a bit better but not by much. pixels appear more white and uniform. Less good than S-Video though but still better than the 18pf.
So at this point, I'm not sure it's worth changing since it means another part in the BOM and more handling and time to process. Perhaps that's why Clay Cowgill used 18pf in the AvCore.

Also, I just tested the SPI RAM block using my spi ram demo and it works as expected.
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uze6666
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

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D3thAdd3r wrote:Hope it works on your end. I built a setup to swap the ESP8266 between the Uzenet module and a 5v serial cradle(Arduino) setup. I put it in the cradle and manually set "AT+CIOBAUD=xxxx\r\n" in the console window to screw the baud rate up then plug it back into Uzebox and pull a reset. As far as I have seen, any normal value such as 9600,14400,19200,28800,38400,57600,76800,115200 is detected and I suspect slower values would also work.
Hey, this is a very nice tool!! Select the access point and show RSSI and so on, awesome. Though when I enter the password to my network I never could connect. Always get error 255 or 10. And after it goes back to the SP scan and often it says no AP found. I have not tried connecting directly via a terminal so I'll try that to rule out a defective module.
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

Post by hpglow »

I've been working too much. Haven't had time to visit here much. This looks good. Can we expect kits for sale soon. This would be nice for me to assemble while I'm on vacation at my cabin next summer.
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Re: New PCB rev on the horizon

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hpglow wrote:I've been working too much. Haven't had time to visit here much. This looks good. Can we expect kits for sale soon. This would be nice for me to assemble while I'm on vacation at my cabin next summer.
Hey, it's been a while! Sure I plan to eventually have this version replace the one I sell at Adafruit. In the short term, I'll have a batch made of PCB v1.3 with the fixes. In the mean time if anybody wants a free PCB of v1.3 pictured above, just send me a PM with your address. I have 8 to give away. They work fine and the fix for the esp12 is pretty trivial and clean as mentioned in my previous post. I'll just charge the shipping. :)

Btw, with uzenet and the uzekboard we essentially have a nice retro computer! With an extra: instead of a crappy modem we have a cool wifi connection. Eh, while at it, how nerdy would it be to emulate the modem connection sounds while the esp12 connects?! :lol:
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