Hello FreeCalypso community, I have done some more polishing on our Magnetite hybrid firmware, and I am pleased to report that this hybrid fw for AT-command-controlled modem functionality now works no worse than our previous stable firmwares that relied on binary-only libraries for essential GSM functionality. The new hybrid fw is built almost entirely from source, containing no blobs other than Nucleus and some small parts of GPF (we already have source replacements for those, but they have yet to be integrated into the Magnetite->Selenite line of development), and has been achieved by using new versions of G23M PS and ACI firmware components from TI's TCS3/LoCosto program. The new PS+ACI combo initially had a few minor bugs and missing features compared to our previous stable firmwares, but now that the visible bugs have been fixed and the visible missing features have been added, the new fw is in a state where I say it is ready to be beta-tested in real-life usage.
The point needs to be repeated: we now have fully functional, fully operational GSM+GPRS mobile station firmware with voice, SMS, CSD and GPRS functionality in which all GSM-affecting and radio-affecting code is fully built from source, and it works reliably to the extent of my ability to test it in my lab on an FCDEV3B board connecting to the live commercial GSM network of T-Mobile USA. There is not much work remaining to be done on the sw/fw side: I will need to dig up the OSL source reconstruction which I did back in 2014 (used in Citrine fw), polish it a little better and integrate it into Magnetite so we can switch the GPF component from prebuilt binary libs to recompilation from source, then swap out Nucleus (replace it with the source version currently used in Citrine), and then finally transition to compiling with gcc instead of TI's proprietary TMS470 compiler. With the sw/fw essentially done, what we need now in order to put this full-source-enabled GSM+GPRS modem solution into the hands of end users is hardware. Calypso chips are still readily available on the Chinese surplus market (at least tens if not hundreds of thousands of pieces), but unless you are going to eat them, chips by themselves aren't of any use to an end user: we also need board-level hardware built from those chips. On the hardware front, the 3 FCDEV3B V1 boards which I had available for sale have just been sold, thus the boards are currently sold out: I now have just two boards left from the good batch, and I need them for my own development and testing, hence they are not for sale. So how can we put our FreeCalypso GSM solution into the hands of Joe Free Software End User? I see several possible ways, although each of them will require significant money and time (the time can be shortened given a lot of money and vice-versa): Approach 1: build a FreeCalypso dumbphone handset, a phone in which the Calypso would act as the main and sole processor as opposed to a slave modem. This is my personally preferred solution, but it has the disadvantage of being absolutely unattractive to those who have no interest in dumbphones. Approach 2: repackage our FC modem into the form factor of an SMT module similar to the mainstream proprietary ones which the whole world is using, and then convince someone to build a libre smartphone or some other kind of end user product with that module. Practically speaking, this approach would only work if someone else pays for it: I am not willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars of my own money to produce the repackaged modem module only to subsequently have zero success in convincing anyone to use it. Approach 3: repackage our FC modem into a USB-powered dongle, so it can be connected directly to USB without needing an intermediate adapter board like we currently use with FCDEV3B or a separate non-USB power supply. This option would be a direct end user product, i.e., it could be marketed directly to end users without having to find some third party willing to build a smartphone or some other complex product with our modem. However, before we can do any of the above, the first required step is to make more FCDEV3B boards from the new design version I am calling FCDEV3B V2. The new board revision has the flash reset signal wired differently as discussed previously on this list, and the change is expected to fix the sleep mode bug (allow sleep modes to be used with firmware running from flash) and also minimize power consumption during sleep. (Our flash chip should NOT be held in reset to get the lowest standby current draw.) The current status of FCDEV3B V2 is that a preliminary version of the PCB design is already done, we just need to add one more test point for safety, and then we are going to need somewhere around 4-5 kUSD to get the boards physically made: PCB fab run, a new parts order, a new paste stencil and an assembly run. The money from the sale of the last 3 FCDEV3B V1 boards will go toward paying John in Colorado (my Altium PCB contractor) for the work of producing the PCB design for FCDEV3B V2, but we still need someone else to pay for the next step of PCB fabrication, expected to be somewhere in the $2600 to $3000 range depending on the number of panels we order. Thus that is the next step - we need to get someone to donate that much money in order to move forward. Hasta la Victoria, Siempre, Mychaela aka The Mother _______________________________________________ Community mailing list Community@freecalypso.org https://www.freecalypso.org/mailman/listinfo/community
