VoCore2 is now on indiegogo.com again 🙂 https://igg.me/at/vocore2
Compared with VoCore v1, we added a beautiful shell(the picture is only a 3d print sample, final shell is much much better) and more features, also improved the LuCI interface to make it easier to use. Hope everyone will like it, same as usual, fully open sourced. 🙂
Many curious people have asked me such question (PS: we did not kill any cat yet). This is always a little secret of VoCore, but today I will talk. It is not only about its looks better, also it is part of quality control.
PCB mainly has six colors, green, blue, red, yellow, white, black. (the truth is you can choose any RGB 24bits color you like, somebody even choose purple)
Most of the factories love black and green, that is because the first pass yield around 95% ~ 98%, the not good ones will send back to workers and repair, during the repairing, the pcb boards have to be heated to 260C again, green and black pcb is good but white pcb will change to light yellow one.
Most repaired ones are good, but the quality might come low. Sn after heat and heat again will partly become SnO2, SnO2 is not conductor and have a high chance broken the connection.
So we decide we only ship the first pass VoCore to users, and use white PCB to make it easy to check every VoCore we shipped is first class quality.
PS: another fact is I am lazy, keep them 100% good rate so I can have more time on bed but not shipping the packages again and again. :p
Last month, I spend a lot of time on DMA and ALSA driver, fight with the noise, optimized every feature(I also made a fork on github.com/vonger, welcome everyone).
Really sorry for the delay, but my only target is to make it to the best I could, not the cost or the deadline.
PS: I heard many companies even big company, they just make their products usable but not extreme, because there are deadline, market, pressure from investor, lack of professional engineer etc…They are telling me, the end user do not know the much tech, so who care…
But I want VoCore2 not only to be the tiny computer but also the best router, the best embed wireless platform, if I can not make it to what I want, why waste the time? There are thousands of such boards already.
Now I am still looking for possible flaw on VoCore2, once I am happy about the sample, it will go to production process. It should be very soon 🙂
Ethernet Transfer Speed: >= 95Mbps(iperf3), maximized.
Wireless 802.11n Transfer Speed: >= 100Mbps(iperf3), maximized too. —- Most routers same test condition only reach around 90Mbps.
USB Transfer Speed: maximized.
SDXC(SD card) Transfer Speed: maximized.
The Power Consume: 75mA.
Almost there 🙂 Just finish DMA driver and I2S
driver, committed two patch to my github.
https://github.com/Vonger/openwrt-chaoscalmer
(clone and checkout VoCore2, update feeds, then it will be ready to compile.)
PS: I planed to reuse exists dma/i2s code for mt7620/mt7621, but none of them are real compatible with mt7628… 🙁
It is really hard work for Linux kernel develop. Code is a simple part, but understanding Linux arch is really a time-cost work(also every linux kernel has some slightly difference). I learned a lot from reading the source of linux, and really love the flash wisdom between the line of the code.
I am going to do:
audio codec driver: this driver for the dock part, codec wm8988 or es8388.
spi dma driver: current spi driver just works but without dma the transfer is slow and takes full cpu time. There is some example in linux kernel source such as spi-ep93xx.c. Write this driver will be skillful, need to understand DMA arch and SPI arch.
clock driver: standard linux kernel should have clock driver for every device on the bus, current openwrt driver just like a “hack”, using fixed clock frequency in the source. If we want our code in real linux kernel(is that LEDE going to do?) must follow their rules.
Hello every beta tester, current openwrt(or lede) default wifi driver is not very well.
My test result of iperf is around 12Mbps.
Thanks to nobblepepper test result:
1. With the image(mtk driver) that came on VoCore2 I get: $ iperf -c 192.168.1.1 -t 30 -f m --snip-- [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-30.0 sec 191 MBytes 53.4 Mbits/sec $ iperf -c 192.168.1.1 -t 30 -f m --snip-- [ 3] local 192.168.1.177 port 39644 connected with 192.168.1.1 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-30.0 sec 212 MBytes 59.3 Mbits/sec 2. With lede with mt76 driver I get: $ iperf -c 192.168.1.1 -t 30 -f m --snip-- [ 3] local 192.168.1.177 port 39712 connected with 192.168.1.1 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-30.0 sec 44.5 MBytes 12.4 Mbits/sec $ iperf -c 192.168.1.1 -t 30 -f m --snip-- [ 3] local 192.168.1.177 port 39713 connected with 192.168.1.1 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-30.0 sec 38.4 MBytes 10.7 Mbits/sec 3. When I disable cal_free data like this (which gave me BIG improvements in speed on MiWiFi and Linkit7688) https://github.com/openwrt/mt76/issues/28 I get: $ iperf -c 192.168.1.1 -t 30 -f m --snip-- [ 3] local 192.168.1.177 port 39775 connected with 192.168.1.1 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-30.7 sec 7.75 MBytes 2.12 Mbits/sec $ iperf -c 192.168.1.1 -t 30 -f m --snip-- [ 3] local 192.168.1.177 port 39776 connected with 192.168.1.1 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-30.5 sec 7.00 MBytes 1.92 Mbits/sec
Here is a firmware from mtk openwrt, wifi works very well.
http://vonger.cn/upload/openwrt-mt7628.sd.bin
default password is 12345678
This firmware is only for one antenna. I disabled another one.
It is easy to enable by update factory setting section. update 0x0034 of factory setting to 0x3422(old should be 0x3411)
The answer is simple: the price is much lower than its cost. 🙂
Currently in market 256MB DDR2 cost around 3~4USD, but RPi Zero have 512M DDR2(price should be over 5USD), Broadcom do not make DDR2, they have to buy it from somewhere else, even they can make it to 2.5USD, the other costs still over 2.5USD. 🙂
The total cost is impossible to lower than 5USD.
It is a good advertising, but we have to forget it, it won’t product anymore.
PS: … Hope I am wrong. :p
Pin map will not change in release version.
Beta version we have four candidates, this sch is for one of it.
Download Here:
vocore2.pin
vocore2.sch
VoCore2 Beta open NOW!!!
Thanks to all the VoCore contributors, without you VoCore is just an unknown project. In everyone’s help and support, VoCore grows up and it almost reaches its second version!
Couple days ago, we reach our final target: Lower power(< 0.5watt when low data transfer), Max signal output(>19.5dbm peak), Two antennas slots, 30+ GPIOs. 
Now, we are looking for people join us to test and develop its drivers for openwrt.
This beta, we have four versions, named v212a, v212b, v212c, v212d. Release version will be picked from one of the four, this time we have fixed all hardware bugs we found. 🙂
It is now at http://vocore.io/store, please be notified, this beta version is ONLY for developers, because we still have many drivers and softwares are not finished for this board; not suggested for beginners; the more developer, the better the further release version(and beginners might find too many bugs let your crash 🙂
The price for now is 50.00USD, include around 20.00USD for DHL shipping and 30.00USD for two VoCore2 beta version. 30USD for VoCore2 will be fully REFUNDED* for beta CODE CONTRIBUTORS**.
* also discount for final version vocore/dock, it is used to avoid abuse free beta.
** contribute vocore2 related patchesto openwrt.org or other contribute.
We only have around 100pcs are making in SMT factory now, so hurry up. 🙂
Questions please submit to forum.vocore.io, VoCore2 section. My workmate will also open a Skype/Facebook group for faster reply.
Possible changes for final release version(we are still discussing)
1. memory 64MB -> 128MB.
2. 2x U.FL slot -> on board antenna + 1x U.FL slot.
3. board color green -> white.
FAQ:
1. What is the final release version price?
VoCore2 price has a high chance to be same as current VoCore(20USD).
2. Will it have a dock version?
Yes, we want to make the price lower and even include a beautiful shell.
3. When will it release?
We plan to release it in two months, this depends on the beta test process, also if we have lucky on mass production.
Thanks to openwrt team again, their latest version works quite well on VoCore2.
Now I can have a happy time on developing SPI-GDMA driver, just hitting keys, much easier than using electric iron & heat gun. :p
PS: hardware part finally finished, I spent more than 1600 hours, hope them worth it 🙂
OpenSource Hardware is a trend in recently life or we could say, it is old fashion way. I am glad to find it makes the world better.
But NOW I must talk on a serious topic: Why NOT Open Source Hardware?
Somebody may ask, is VoCore an open source hardware?
Not at all, please give me five minutes to explain.
How to define an open source hardware?
First, let’s check open source software:
They are totally free to use, everybody could modify it, contribute to it, once you have the source code, it is totally under your control.
You might say, I cloned the Arduino from scratch, even from a hand-making PCB, and everything just works well;
Ye, you are right, you made one open source hardware. But I have to say, Arduino is very simple that is why you can make it.
Here is a true story.
A student from India contact me, he want to make some copys to lower the cost, I think it is a good start of the open source hardware, so I spend a lot of time and tried my best to help him but fail at final…After a lot of work, he finally make some copy, but its cost is 3 times than current VoCore2… Of course for fun it worth. 🙂 And I recognize VoCore2 should not be open source:
1. PCB quality is important, for example, at solder layer it even covers the metal pad, it should be NG in most factory but cheap PCB provider do not care that. It will increase cost for the low yield rate.
2. The impedance matching, cheap PCB provider do not have that. That will effect RF, USB and DDR, sometimes it will slow down data transfer speed, sometimes it can not work at all.
3. SMT quality, cheap factory uses cheap machine, increase cost because low yield rate.
4. Low quality chips. Some chips are incredible low price, the small batch even lower than mass order especially on alibaba & 1688 & taobao), the recycle ones normally are from junks, the chips’ pads are oxidized, maybe pass test in factory but once you use it with heavy load, the heat will broke them. For my production, must and only use new chips(out of chip factory < six months with vacuum packaging) from the top provider or directly from its maker.
PS: that’s why a lot of cheap production from ShenZhen only have a short life. That is very very bad and dishonest.
And many many details are not in books and hard to show in blog, they are the experience of an engineer.
That is still NOT the end…opensource hardware do not include:
PS: every steps cost a lot of time + money.
That’s Why NOT Open Source Hardware:
A REAL COMPLEX hardware can not be simply open source as software, it is an art of production, need time to try, to make mistake, need a lot of sweat and not a simple copy&paste.
I just want to public SCH and PCB could help people understand how it works, makes it easy to develop daughter board base on it, but not suggest directly copy from it.
ONE THING FOR SURE: VoCore and VoCore2 are ALWAYS OPEN, but never an open source hardware.
Coming soon, this June 🙂
## Interfaces:
1. export all GPIOs. (around 30)
2. export 3x UARTs.
3. export 1x I2C.
4. export 1x I2S.
5. export 1x reference clock.
6. export 1x USB 2.0.
7. export 1x PCIe 1.1
8. export 1x high speed SPI (max to 40Mbps)
9. export 2x antenna (UL.F) for 802.11n (max to 300Mbps)
10. input 3.6~6.0V, output 1.8V, 3.3V.
11. export 2x 10/100 ethernet port.
12. export 1x SDXC (allow high speed SD/TF card)
13. export 1x SPI slave
14. export 2x PWM (hardware PWM)
## Parameters:
* CPU: 580MHz MIPS.
* RAM: 64MB/128MB.(two versions, bigger memory special for who love python 🙂 )
* ROM: 16MB NOR FLASH.
* NORMAL POWER CONSUME: 74mA/5V (wifi on, no data transfer)
* PEAK POWER CONSUME: 233mA/5V (max speed cpu and wireless)
## Compare with VoCore v1.0:
* faster cpu speed.
* bigger RAM.
* lower power consume.
* better wifi signal.
* more interfaces.
We are busy on preparing the mass production, fixing & updating necessary drivers; preorder chips; prepare test process for factory; product the beta version…etc, many works left to do.
Planing stop making VoCore at May, focus on better version VoCore2.
Once June released the mass production, we will focus on software part. Anyway, VoCore is always a geek’s toy.