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That's cool!

Also, I got 20 of these today:

I'll change my work title to "Human Pick & Place Machine" for now...

Looking very good!

@Gordon "I still want a PCB design tool that'll do routing with nice curved lines that automatically bend around vias and things." Altium does this. You can either drag and it will place tracks according to rules where it can find path. You can also enable push tracks which will push tracks. Then push vias which will also push vias, lastly a god mode push which will replace everything to let your track through. It's powerful for tight routing!

https://youtu.be/VhPk3J1WcpE?t=4m11s
see it in action here (this guy uses 45* but you can change rules to use rounded (also min/pref/max radius). :)
EDIT: The link points to 4m11s [this is where you'll see via push] but it does not start from there here. Some bug with the autoembed I assume. (One more thing I'll fix if you make a branch of this forum :) )

If you do will you host the fork on github? I'd like to add an RSS feed. Having an Espruino alert me new posts would be a bit meta and very cool :)

It usually happens happens around 1 am your time, in my experience

Awesome! Will test tomorrow probably

Your power buses are floating? I guess you may be thinking that you wire them to where you want? (so there's no mask over? that's probably what the //// are all about....)

I would like to see a header exposing the lines from the pads of the power jack as well. For testing it would be nice to simply make a banana->jack and use a bench power supply. Currently it seems hard to do a direct tap?
Would you mind generating a 3d view (if your cad supports it easily).

One more thing, if one wanted to do a large-ish LED project (and thus high current on the power jack) then thicker traces for it may be a good idea.

Lastly (if I were to sell something) I'd replace all straight angles with 45* like you do for most traces. If only to never hear anyone complain or ask why it's designed as it is. I'm sure it would have no practical implications but it might if someone wanted to make say an Espruino controller GPS Disciplined Oscillator.

Disclaimer: I am a beginner, think of these comments as questions.

Seems very good. I'd buy some.

I'm having 20sec+ load times on the forum. And the occasional:

Woho! 3d printer has arrived! It will be easier to make beta prototypes for Free User Test when we have this in the office (apologies for the horrible photo):

Time to dust off the 123d Designer and get on it! :)
Maybe I should design some easy to fabricate casing for the two Espruinos? (Maybe they already exist?)

315 is forbidden in Norway for the general public, I'll go for cables and WiFi through the same Espruino powered device. :)

Maybe move this to Interfacing? :)

Thanks for the comment @allObjects!

My mixer has AES, AVIOM, CobraNet, MADI and Si BLU link - but I don't want a digital snake / digital multi cable. I want a really simple summing box - so that's what I'm making :)
(A digital snake would be an awesome project, but I think I'd need to do FPGA then)

When installing an audio system, cables are the way to go. This is just a project to cover my personal need. I almost never work at the same venue, I always bring the entire rig and most times I mix ensables that use a very uniform set of microphones (i.e chiors small orchestras and the like). Currently I'm dragging two consoles with me, this goal is to cut the one console out of the equation.
My typical setup:

I do agree that having cables would feel (and probably be) more reliable. Though, I've had great results with the ESP8266 for halls and the like (I'll skip Bluetooth, the range is just not there). I'm hesitent to try 433MHz because in norway that band is used to distribute sound to ear pieces of the hearing impaired. Don't want to mess around with that.

Nice work man! I'll buy some off you if you plan on selling. Or order some if you release Gerbers. Looking good!

Would you consider breaking those 4-long rows around the Espruino into 2x2 with no solder mask between the two groups? Then it would be easy to lead f.ex a resistor over to some other device. And it would also be easy to make a solder bridge if one needs all three pins on an Espruino pin.

Thanks for the input @Gordon :) I'll do some research on the MAX232 chip and see if I can find someone writing about experiences with serial over 30m. I'm kind of tempted to skip that aspect and just make the WiFi/Bluetooth wireless Espruino thing. I think almost everyone carry around a WiFi - or a Bluetooth enabled device these days.

@d0773d Thanks for your kind words! The software is Altium Designer. I've got to say it's the best package I've ever tried. Also the most expensive one.

I think I will convert everything to KiCAD or Eagle (I'm no fan of Eagle) when I'm done. I'll probably open source the project just in case there's someone out there who want one of these. I have a few interested people in my sound engineering circle so I'll either sell kits through eBay or I may try to do a Kickstarter for it to get a feel for the interest in something like this.

Me too. It's the programmer's life; content reminders of how stupid** we all are...

**at least when we're compared against an even dumber, but perfectly logical minion - such as a micro-controller.

timeNow - timeSlightlyAfterNow = negative

1 - 2 = -1

:)

You might be looking at a deterministic call time for getTime().
getTime() will be interpreted and then call into c++ code, this will consume some time.

Try

var timeNow = getTime();
console.log(timeNow-timeNow); //you'll get 0 ;)

Progress has been made and I'm soon ready to order four test boards, with casing an everything :)

Here's the schematic and progress on routing. I'm kind of happy with my bus for the digital pots. It's 10mil/10mil:

@Gordon Do you have a guesstimate of when those-who-missed-out-on-kickstarter can purchase a pico?
I'll use it for both the remote wireless control module, and I'm planning to make a usb version too (so it's possible to run a cable to the boxes on stage, if that's preferable for the engineer).

If I were to pass serial (baud 9600) over say 30 meter jack cables, do you think I should buffer the signals?

PS: let me know if you feel like I'm spamming this forum. I know the boxes do not run Espruino themselves but they will be controlled by Espruino eventually :)

Just stumbled upon this https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/658903329/perf-the-perfboard-reinvented some good ideas there I think :)
There's also a discussion here http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/perf-the-perfboard-reinvented-**kickstarter-launch**/

Though I'd post just in case you get some inspiration.

@Joakim Glad you found my POC interesting :) Yes, the CC430 is using a modified version of star-push-endpoint and I also peeked somewhat to the sample code that you get access to when buying the WizziLab stuff.

The reason my development board has both the STM and the CC430 was so I could be guaranteed to show off both the JavaScript aspect of the product (through Espruino of course) and Dash7 (through OSS-7). I am still hoping to find a cheaper solution before making something intended for a paid user test, rather than a free one.

OSS-7 is not exactly self documenting, though I'm beginning to get a grasp around their ideas now.

@Gordon I can't believe I've not thought about the fact that using Dash7 on the STM would basically prevent it from going into sleep mode. Probably stuck with the need of having two processors then. As battery life is of importance I'll have to scratch my head a bit.

During my experimentation I've found that it's really hard (at least for me) to find a way to run a 'dumb' RF transceiver reliably. It seems to shine first when you have a good BLAST implementation on top (at least for 433, the band MRF89 operates in is somewhat more reliable).

After trying various devices and bands with different protocols I ended up betting on Dash7.

Keep in mind I'm no RF wizard, and the tests are mostly on the form of "how long can I walk in this direction before packet loss".

---

Furthermore, in terms of code size and memory; I've made a proof of concept where I have the actual Dash7 interface written as part of the Espruino itself as a library (I'm cheating right now though, it just talks with the cc430 using serial). Then the user can bind Dash7.onMessage(function, {options...}) functions, and use Dash7.send(message, {options...}); to send messages.
This way, you don't really need much RAM to store the user program. It also makes sense to remove some of the other libraries for an IoT tailored device. The leaf nodes does not need a www stack for instance.

For me, I want my programs to end up looking something like my proof of concept:

var dht = require("DHT11").connect(C11);

//loss of connection rules
Dash7.connectionLost(function(fails){ 
    clearInterval(); 
    Dash7.disconnect(); //currently I have it on a fet so I save battery this way
    if (fails > 10){
        analogWrite(B2, 0.5, {freq: 1000});
        setTimeout(function(){ analogWrite(B2, 0); }, 1000);
        Dash7.clearErrorFlags(); //reset fails counter
    }
});

//conneced behaviour
Dash7.connect(function(meta){
    console.log(meta);
    Dash7.messagePrefix = "/telemetry/" + meta.address; //this is sytem side soft address, not mac

    //broadcasted messages
    Dash7.onMessage(function(msg){
        if (msg.data === "alarm") {
            analogWrite(B2, 0.5, {freq: 1000});
        } else if (msg.data === "alarmOff") {
            analogWrite(B2, 0);
        }
    }, { routedTo: "all" });

    //messages to me only
    Dash7.onMessage(function(msg){
        if (msg.req) {
            Dash7.sendAck(); 
        } 
    }, { routedTo: "me" });

    //sensor aggregation loop
    setInterval(function(){
        dht.read(function (a) {
            Dash7.send("/temperature/" + a.temp.toString(), { to: "gateway" });
            Dash7.send("/humidity/" + a.rh.toString(), { to: "gateway" });
            //planned using mesh or mesh-cloud-mesh routing
            //Dash7.sendMessage("/humidity/" + a.rh.toString(), { to: 0xbadf00d });
        });
    }, 10000);
}, 5000 /*retry interval, will also still retry if disconnect during operation*/);

I'm rambling now. I'll stop.

@d0773d There's not really much to say. It's basically just an expensive cc430 on a breakout board.

PROS:

• Documented 'getting started' guide for building the Dash7 stack
  
• Comes pre programmed with a working and useful sample program
  
  

CONS:

• Price
  
• Documentation is really not that 'easy' (i.e this is not a dev board for everybody, you should have experience building toolchains and debugging odd errors. [google is your friend]). I know this also was one of the PROS, I do think it's easier to pick up a wizzi than to try to build for some other dev board using the dash7 api. You need to pay to get access to the wiki with documentation.
  

New toy in house!

I've never tried an oscilloscope before but I got up and running and verified some PWM code without any problems. Surprisingly intuitive, even the logic analyzer!

I'm currently working with DASH7 and not incidentally I have access to both STM32 and CC430 on my board. I'll report sizes etc when I get the parts and everything set up. Of cource, if I ever end up porting it to an Espruino library (I think it will happen, but probably not until after first protos are up and running using the cc430) I will post it for everyone to use :)

If my design is flawed I also have access to a few WizziMotes from WizzeMote so sooner or later I'll post some info on Espruino and Dash7 :)

I did notice seeed offered to falsify the value but I'm a notorious above-the-board kind of guy when it comes to finances. In norway you will hurt bad (bleed to death) if you're caught :/

Some times though I get friendly people in the states to send me somethin I've paid them to get. Somehow that's legal. I do not always understand the legal system, but when I do - I pretend I don't and "plead the fifth" ;)

sexy!

I'd like edge headers in 2mm and 2.54mm pitch with a trace to a neighbour through hole pad (I.e exactly what the Espruino has on the edge opposite to the usb) so it's easy to route i/o to a header/plug.

Having a plethora of various SMD fooprints would be awesome too! For me the optimal would be to have through hole pads next to the smd pads (will constrain space though, and again this is so I could use jumper wires for quick prototyping).

Maybe it would be an idea to make two variants, one for SMD and one for through hole. It would also be cool to allow the protoboards to connect to eachother with say an edge connector and using the pcb as a plug into the next.

I have a lot of surplus SOT-23 and 0603 components, so thouse would be a high priority for me but probably not for the next guy.

Something like:

This board has a lot of options, and a nice way of doing multiple pin counts: