Hello FreeCalypso community, I've been quiet over the past few months as I've been working on some new additions to our FC hardware family. Hopefully soon there will be two new additions to our family:
1) There exists a certain historically-made Calypso modem module conceptually similar to Huawei GTM900, but made by a different historical manufacturer. This module is so good (way better than GTM900) that I decided to turn it into an official FreeCalypso hw product by way of rebranding: I will be making these modules available for public sale with FreeCalypso rebranding and providing full technical support for our rebranded modules; our FC-rebranded version will be differentiated from the original by a sticker bearing our FreeCalypso trademark (cannot be legally applied by anyone other than me), and the modules will be flashed with FreeCalypso firmware. The original identity of the historical Calypso module that is being rebranded as FreeCalypso Tango will be publicly revealed at the same time when these FC Tango modules become physically available for public sale, and that step will in turn happen when I build my production test fixture that will be used to reflash the firmware and test each individual unit before reselling it as FC Tango. Right now my current estimate is December of this year, i.e., not too long of a wait left. Until then, please be patient. 2) I have designed a new development board based around this FC Tango module, it is basically a board similar to TI's original D-Sample, but with a Tango module as its core. This new board will largely supplant FCDEV3B: it will be fully quadband (as Tango modems are), it has a lot more Calypso interfaces brought out (one can connect a 16-bit parallel LCD and a 5x5 keypad), and because these already existing Tango modules are so much cheaper than new production starting from just chips, the new board is expected to be much less expensive than FCDEV3B. The only major feature that exists on FCDEV3B but not on the new board is JTAG: it is simply not brought out on the historically-made Calypso module that is being rebranded as FC Tango. FCDEV3B will still remain an active product for those who need JTAG or who prefer it for other reasons, but for most purposes the new FC Caramel2 board will be the more preferable alternative. The new FC Caramel2 board has already been designed and laid out, and I expect that I will be placing the order for PCB fabrication within the next week or two, as soon as it passes all needed DFM/DFA reviews by my board assembly people. Assembled Caramel2 boards will probably arrive at FreeCalypso HQ some time in November (or maybe October if we get lucky), and my hope is that by December we'll be able to make the big release, with both Tango modules and Caramel2 boards becoming available for public sale; all details that are currently kept private will be publicly revealed at the same time. The part I am currently most excited about is the anticipated price list: * Bare Tango modules (not mounted on development boards) will be made available for $40 apiece with no MOQ, i.e., anyone will be able to buy 1 piece or 1000 pieces or anything in between. * For a minimal FC Caramel2 development kit consisting of the C2 board itself and a universal AC to 3.6 VDC power supply, I anticipate the price to be somewhere around $150. The only part which users will need to provide themselves with this option is their own adapter to connect to Calypso UARTs, which will be brought out in their native 2.8V (3.3V-tolerant) form. * For a complete Caramel2 kit including the above plus our official DUART28 adapter (USB to both Calypso UARTs), I anticipate the price to be somewhere around $220. Our DUART28 is a bit more expensive than competing options because it is made in USA in small quantities - assembly labor is the dominant cost component - but it is the absolute best adapter for Calypso targets. I realize though that some people may have tight budgets, and may thus opt for a technically inferior solution that costs less. What is the purpose of the present announcement when the hardware won't be available for another 2-3 months and when no significant technical details are being revealed yet? Several reasons: * Based on my prolonged silence, some people may have assumed that I stopped working on FreeCalypso - and I need to make it clear that quite the opposite holds. * If anyone has been wanting to play with FreeCalypso but has been put off by the high price of our current FCDEV3B, there is now hope that a much more affordable option may be on the near horizon. * From watching their two public Redmine issues related to this article, I get the impression that our colleages over at Sysmocom are working in overdrive trying to produce their own Calypso development board based around Huawei GTM900. I strongly disagree with many of their design decisions (I advised them on the right ways, but they stuck to their ways), and right now it looks like they are stuck thanks to their insistence on using CP2105 rather than FT2232x: it looks like they are stuck with having no workable way to program that chip's OTP configuration memory (FT2232x EEPROM programming is trivial in contrast), and the way in which they are using that chip does require custom configuration. If our Caramel2 boards become available for $220 with the DUART28 adapter or for $150 without it, perhaps the need for that other GTM900 board will be eliminated? Hasta la Victoria, Siempre, Mychaela aka The Mother _______________________________________________ Community mailing list Community@freecalypso.org https://www.freecalypso.org/mailman/listinfo/community