RobG 1,892 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 For me, I'd go for opossum's or SA's non-panalized version. Yes, it would drive costs up, but think of the cutting that I'll have to do or rather whoever buys it. I'd prefer not to deal with panel cutting. I do not have the right equipment. If you use 1mm boards (and I think you should use 1mm or less for this type of breakout board,) cutting is a breeze. @oPossum, can you make all parts (or at least LEDs) on your LaunchPad Mini SMD? We have many peripherals that use SPI and it would be nice to have a standard connector to plug them in. We could make a booster pack that would have some most commonly used parts as well as SPI port on one end (oPossum's LaunchPad Mini could have SPI connector instead of CC2500.) Then all you need is a MTG style breakout to plug things in. You can make the panel with 2" x 1.5mm main SPI/mini LP board and two 1" x 0.5" breakouts, one for CC2500 and one generic use or something like that. larsie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 If we go for breakout boards, I might mail them without cutting. In any case, you do need two radios to talk to one another which means two breakout boards. If there are four breakouts on each pcb, the buyer can cut it. Hows this? GeekDoc 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobG 1,892 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 One of the boards on the panel should be MSP430G board, so you would get a complete solution, one booster board, one breakout to use with booster, and one satellite msp430 to which you could solder cc2500. The board could be 2" x 1.4", breakout 0.5" x 0.6", satellite board 1.5" x 0.6" or 1" x 0.6" with extra breakout. SPI connection would be 2x4 0.1 header. Booster would have 2 SPI headers for testing 2 radios. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
larsie 121 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Sorry, I haven't read the whole thread, but I wonder if it's possible to combine the two... one small breakout with a booster-pack that fits to that? So that we could use the mini-breakout when that is more practical? Maybe it's been suggested already. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
larsie 121 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Actually, I really like all of them :clap: and I'm not sure which one I'd choose. They all have some good use cases. The mini launchpad also... For pin-outs, could we use the same as the RF booster pack? I also like the concept of a common SPI-connector... which connector should this be? I could also support the same on the SPI LCD board I'm making. This board needs more than just the SPI-pins though, so we'd need a connector that can be used with this board (many pins) and just plain SPI also. 10-pin (2x5 pin) IDC-type, but put the basic SPI on one row?? This was my thought about my robot-board. I've made one version with Grove-contacts (similar to IDC) and one with RJ11 pins. The latter are very child-friendly, but the connectors are very big so probably not ideal for most other purposes. Would be nice to have some connectors that are quite cheap to source from futurlec or similar. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
oPossum 1,083 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 3 in 1 ??? GeekDoc 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobG 1,892 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 This is what I was thinking larsie 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
larsie 121 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Looks good, but to make sure I understand. What are the pins on on the different SPI plugs. Are the SPI-ports configurable using the SPI1config, but there are two different configurations that could have different pins from the MCU? Maybe we could add some more SPI-headers in addition, since there's room? They could share the same SPI-pins, right? Regarding the radio-board, it should not have ground under it, and probably preferably no wires?? Isn't the radio-board through-hole? Just surface mount? You could possibly make the larger of the breakout-boards a different connector for a breadboard. Turning it 90 degrees. To comply with the wish someone had about breadboard-compatibility. I like this plugin-concept... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobG 1,892 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 2x4 pin SPI headers are 1:1 with CC2500 9 pin headers (except clock pin #9.) Booster board You can plug one or two radios using breakout boards, or attach them directly to SMD pads. You can also create and use other SPI daughter boards, like memory, since SPI, Vcc, GND, CS, and other signals are available on that header. SPIconfig1 is used to switch between USCI( and USI when SPI1 port is used. SPIconfig2 is used to disconnect from USCI(A) when the second radio is not necessary. Breakout board is pretty much 1:1, nothing special here. MSP430 board will have MSP430G2553 and an LDO on it. CC2500 will be soldered on one end, 2x4 header will have Vcc, GND, and 6 general use I/Os connected to MCU. The board below is almost finished, just a few tweaks left. There are no jumpers for module 2 since I am assuming that only module 1 would be soldered and used most of the time. Added 0.05" programming header to msp430 board. One more thing that I might add later is a little logic buffer from pin 9 to XIN. [Picture removed, see my next post] Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MattTheGeek 99 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I've been considering doing a CPLD based IO abstraction board, However, Analog wouldn't work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zeke 693 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 So, whose board do we focus on? Do we need a poll or just a signup sheet? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Rob's is a full blown LP as well as a BP, opossum's is a BP. Both allow USI/USCI I think opossum's board is ready and can place the order. Rob can finish his tweaks and I'll be happy to place an order for him too. How does this sound? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
larsie 121 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 What's the price going to be? I'd be interesting in a couple of Rob's boards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Depends on what percent Rob wants for his design(I'll PM'ed him). PCBs normally go for $5.0 in the Store. I'll let you know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RobG 1,892 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 My board is finished. Can anyone spot any mistakes or problems? Any suggestions? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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