I think that the NanoNote needs more I/O

Werner Almesberger werner at openmoko.org
Sun Aug 22 05:08:15 EDT 2010


Artie Lekstutis wrote:
> USB Host (or OTG):

Solved in AVT2 :-)
http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/AVT2_RC1_Reference_Board

> Infra Red:

How about making a USB-to-IR dongle ? That should be rather easy,
e.g., reusing my firmware [1] for the C8051F32x family. (Comes
from IDBG [2, 3], now used for ben-wpan [4], with at least one
more board using it to come soonish.)

[1] http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/f32xbase/
[2] http://www.almesberger.net/misc/idbg/
[3] http://www.almesberger.net/misc/ben/idbg-v2-install.jpg
[4] http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-wpan/

> Custom cards: Some space and a connector below the battery to allow
> slipping in a custom card to add functionality would allow hardware
> hackers to make what they need.

Hmm, there was a discussion about this a while back. My suggestion
is to make room for small extensions by removing the speaker.
Instead of a connector, I would just place test points of
"interesting" signals nearby. A small piece of customizable plastic
would be placed in the side wall. So you couldn't just plug boards
in and out, but you could fit them into an almost regular NanoNote,
the cost would be minimal, and you would have access to the whole
range of signals you can grab on test points.

> I don't think bit-banging would have enough bandwidth.

The Jz4720 has some nice hardware peripherals that could help.
Alas, the I/O lines of almost all of them are wasted for the
keyboard in the Ben :-( A few small schematics changes and a
re-layout would improve this situation dramatically.

BTW, AVT2 has the same problems, probably to retain compatibility
with the Ben (which makes sense).

I think liberating those "lost" peripherals would be quite
feasible in a Ben II/Ya/whatever, even if changes are kept to a
minimum otherwise.

> Custom RF: [...]

See [4], above :-)

> Ethernet: I think this would not be worth the cost and is counter to

Agreed. RJ-45 is too bulky for the current form factor.

- Werner




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