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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Peter's design inspired me... The Cutie Pi
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Mixtel90 Guru  Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6804 |
The more I looked at Peter's latest design the more I liked it. It does everything right, in my opinion. I started to wonder if it would translate into a through-hole design, even though the components are bigger. This is just the result of my musings - I'm not really intending to make it an official design. Full credit to Peter though, his board layout is very good indeed. What I came up with isn't as pretty, to my mind, but some may like it as the PicoMite is a normal plug-in one (it has to be as there are components underneath it!). You will have to solder stackable headers to the Pico if you want to add an expansion module though. As compensation I brought a bit of IO out to a header. Incidentally, before I added this it was 65mm x 65mm. I had to stretch it to fit thee text in. :) I've only worked from Peter's pictures so I've no idea if it's the same mechanically. It just "looks ok" to me. :) In the end I couldn't resist a couple of personal touches! The LED has red to override the GP25 LED and green for the user to play with. (I found some red/blue ones so have some on order). I also included a RJ-11 socket for I2C. Goodness knows if it's wired to any standard but it'll do for me Obviously, this isn't a "ready to play" design like Peter's. It needs dexterity with a soldering iron - especially for the micro SD card socket.  Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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lew247 Guru Joined: 23/12/2015 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1702 |
I have one suggestion - why not replace the vga connector for a DVI connector? Then it can be used on computer monitors that don't have vga anymore, and with a dvi-hdmi adaptor any tv set that has hdmi |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4253 |
@Mick, Peters design frees up as many as it can of the GP0...GP7 pins (by assigning GP23,24,25 to different use). This allows for PIO develoment like the 8 channel logic analyzer (6 channel on Peter's previous design). This may of coarse not be your target audience, so above is just a remark. Regards, Volhout Edited 2023-04-28 17:21 by Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6804 |
a) I haven't got one. b) The signals are all VGA no matter what connector you use. c) If you fit a DVI connector then someone will complain that it doesn't work (their TV/monitor doesn't support VGA on DVI pins, only digital - not the PicoMite's fault). d) You can use a VGA to DVI or VGA to HDMI adapter, of course. :) This is one of the problems with DVI. Unless you know the equipment you don't know what it supports. Not all devices support all the pins - even if they are present. A monitor with only a DVI connector may or may not support VGA, unless you have the manual you won't know until you try it. Nowadays it's probably more likely to only handle HDMI without audio. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4253 |
AFAIK the DVI connector has one BIG pin. Whether that pin us horizontal, or vertical, determines what the capabilities of the monitor are (does it also support analog VGA on DVI or not). It is a monitor capability. So adding a DVI to the pico does not really help. Volhout Edited 2023-04-28 17:35 by Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6804 |
@Volhout I was playing. :) I didn't really intend it to be taken too seriously, just to see if something like it could be done. GP0-GP3 happen to work out for the DAC very easily so I used them. I suppose I could have tried to use Peter's schematic but I didn't - not much point as I have only the PicoMite pins to use, not the full RP2040 set. Peter's design is far better than mine and I would urge anyone who is considering one to get his rather than build mine up - there probably isn't that much difference in cost if there are two of you wanting them (I think that's the minimum order for assembled units from JLCPCB, isn't it?). Incidentally - it was only after I posted it that I discovered that there is already a CutiePi, which is a thick tablet incorporating a Pi compute board. Not much competition as theirs is well over 250UKP. :) It's been years since I used DVI. I always ended up using an adapter, I remember that much... Edited 2023-04-28 17:46 by Mixtel90 Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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