after I changed the power input to 3.2V, it works stable over 24 hours, during the time, I tested GPIO, works well. Wifi has signal and it is fair, but I can not connect to it from computer, just get some weird system log, looks like the hardware of wifi still have some problem.

root@OpenWrt:/# logread -f
Sat Jun 14 20:16:02 2014 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Sat Jun 14 20:16:02 2014 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Sat Jun 14 20:16:02 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:02 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed Vongers-MBP
Sat Jun 14 20:16:03 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:03 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed Vongers-MBP
Sat Jun 14 20:16:06 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:06 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed Vongers-MBP
Sat Jun 14 20:16:10 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPDISCOVER(br-lan) b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:10 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPOFFER(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:12 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPDISCOVER(br-lan) b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:12 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPOFFER(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:14 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPDISCOVER(br-lan) b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:14 2014 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[881]: DHCPOFFER(br-lan) 192.168.1.103 b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed 
Sat Jun 14 20:16:15 2014 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Sat Jun 14 20:16:16 2014 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA b8:f6:b2:1a:7b:ed IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)

Some boards(about 40%) are not stable, I add 0402 154Kohm 1% and 0402 158Kohm 1% resistor to the package, so if your alpha board can not work well(boot up with system oops), please replace the 150Kohm on board to 154Kohm or 158Kohm, this is a dirty fix before we find the real problem.

And further alpha test/fix report I will public in the forum but not blog, that will be easier for us to discuss the problem. 🙂

Finger cross, hope I find the wifi problem soon…

Get the 300 pieces from factory:

The alpha version have tons of bugs, be happy to catch them 😀

From my first test, there are two main problems:

1. the board is not stable through 3.3V~6V port, many oops when system boot up, but through 3.3V pin(input set to 3.1V~3.2V), the system works normal.

2. From computer/phone we are able to find VoCore wifi hotpot, but after connect to it, it shows a warning, can not ssh to the board.

First problem, I think it is PCB problem or design problem. But the design is copied from v0.5(some wire changed, I must compare them. Never be too careful, specially on hardware), and v0.5 is normal. So high chance to be PCB problem. Might be crosstalk? From my simulation the max crosstalk is 84mV(3.0V, 1.0ns), in most situation the max allowed value should be 150mV.

Second problem, just no idea, might caused by first problem. Same firmware works well on v0.5 but not this one.

From the factory engineer, he said two points must be improved in next PCB version:

1. V-CUT border is too closed to each other, some pin hole might be broken after SMT.
2. V-CUT is not good for such small board, the copper is easy to be stretched when they cut it into pieces, so it will effect signal.

I thought there might be some small problem such as wifi signal in the alpha version but I never thought these problems are so big…None of that happens to my test version v0.3 or v0.5.

I am really sorry, I planed this version should be at least as good as v0.5… I will also ship a small gift to all the alpha tester(USB<=>TTL/UART device), hope your testers will be a little happier. 🙂

And the boards will be shipped in this week. I am so limited, please help me make it better, really appreciate!

It is a long time 🙂 Now I am able to upload something to my blog.
Jun.09, at ShenZhen.

Jun.10, shopping.(forget to take picture…)

Jun.11, factory.

It is much faster than my hand solder. 😀 VoCore alpha is only 300 pieces, so they plan to make them about Jun.12 night in three hours.

What is this? 🙂

And special thanks for ShenZhen TechSpace or I will have no chance to meet so many creativity people there.

Thank you for my friend Wu Tong at ShenZhen get this picture. 🙂

Hello, every reader, I made a simple forum for the coming alpha test by using bbPress.

Address is here: http://vonger.cn/?forum=vocore-alpha-test

Now I am on the new version of dock. It is the first time I find microSD is that big for VoCore Dock…

No free place…Where can I place you, tiny SD card? Maybe a SPI camera(if this thing exists) is a better choice. 😀

Any good idea? Please leave a comment.

This should be final version for alpha test. It might exist bug on hardware.

Download Link Here: VoCore.v1.0a.pcb

Garber File For Drill: garber.drill
Hope this will help you make the breakout board.

This one should be much better. Move GND from bottom right corner to bottom left corner…So GPIO14, GPIO15 will not fight, and cover one GND is not a big deal.

Looks like move a pin is petty easy… But it is not. 😀

I made it easy 🙂 Most part are copied from Poray X8. Some uci config are really hard to understand, have to read code.

Patch for VoCore. I am new to make patch, not sure how to add new file to patch…hope this patch is in right format.

http://vonger.cn/upload/vocore.patch

Two new created files:

path: openwrt/target/linux/ramips/dts/
http://vonger.cn/upload/VOCORE.dts
path: openwrt/target/linux/ramips/rt305x/profiles
http://vonger.cn/upload/vocore.mk

Then delete tmp folder under openwrt, then run make menuconfig, VOCORE will be appear there.

And to use it as a module, you’d better change “Image configuration”->”Preinit configration options” -> IP address for preinit network messages(192.168.61.1), and Boardcast address for preinit network messages to (192.168.61.255).

Any idea about this openwrt config is welcome, I am new to that. Please leave a comment. 🙂

PS:
This is better, if my way is not working, please try this. Thank you, Markus Z 🙂
http://vocore.freshdesk.com/support/discussions/topics/1000033335

Next monday I will go to ShenZhen factory to make about 300pieces VoCore. Its PCB is ready. I will upload some photos of the PCB once my friend WuTong at ShenZhen get it. 🙂

This alpha version did not export SPI yet. Beta version will be almost same as final release version, still need about six weeks.