Looks good. It'll be a month or so before I can order one. On Sunday 12 September 2010, Christoph Mair wrote: > Dear list, > > after lots of hard work I'm happy to announce that the Freerunner > Navigation Board v2 is finally available! The team from handheld-linux.com > [1] kindly offered to handle orders and shipping. > > The second version of the Navigation Board includes some features which go > well beyond of what is needed for navigational purposes. The board comes in > two assembly variants "standard" and "complete". See below for a feature > description/comparison. The most recent documentation as well as possible > use cases and bug descriptions can always be found on the wiki page [2]. > > Features supported by any board: > * 3D magnetometer > The magnetometer measures magnetic forces on three axes. With some > math it can be used as a compass. Alternatively, use it to measure the > magnetic fields generated by trains while accelerating > (e.g. underground lines). > > * 3D gyroscope > A gyroscope measures angular velocity. It can determine how fast you > spin your Freerunner around its three axes. Usable to support the > integrated accelerometers for inertial navigation (navigation without > GPS) or to create a wireless game controller (like the wii). > > * Barometric pressure sensor > The change in ambient air pressure is a good indicator for changing > weather conditions. If the weather is relatively stable and the > barometric pressure changes, it usually indicates that the height above > sea level changed. If this value is known the absolute height can be > calculated without using the GPS. > > * Four channel LED controller > This LED controller can dim and make blink up to four LEDs (e.g. RGBA). > It works autonomously, even if the main CPU is suspended. This may for > instance be used to indicate unread messages. Large blinking intervals and > duty cycles enable short flashes to save battery power. Alternatively one > could connect a high brightness LED and use the Freerunner as a dimmable > torch. > > * Seven channel touch controller > The chip could actually control twelve channels, but due to space > restrictions only seven are available on the FRNBv2. They can be used > to add touch buttons to your Freerunner or act as proximity detector. > E.g.: disable the screen lock if you pick up the phone. (*) Four channels > can also drive LEDs, if you don't need them for something else. > > Additional features of the "complete" boards: > * 12-Bit analog to digital converter > This chip is very similar to the one used on the Freerunner Navigation > Board v1 to digitize the output of the gyroscopes. The FRNBv2 does not > use it for own purposes, it's completely under users' control. A > possible use cases would be an ambient light sensor. Or use it to measure > the current consumption of the FRNBv2 ;-) > > * Programmable oscillator > Do you need to generate a rectangular signal with programmable > frequency between 1kHz and 68MHz? Then this chip is made for you. What can > you use it for? I thought about a 38kHz oscillator which can be enabled > and disabled using a GPIO pin. This could be used as generic infrared > remote control. > > If you really need these two last features, order a "complete" board or add > the chips yourself to any "standard" board. They come in leaded packages > and are hand solderable if you have some soldering experience. > > (*) This feature was not tested yet due to a missing kernel driver. I'm not > sure if it will work as expected. > (**) The programmable oscillator does not work due to a strange bug. See > the wiki [2] for details. > > Have fun! > > Christoph > > [1] http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=Navigation%20Board > [2] http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Freerunner_Navigation_Board_v2 > > _______________________________________________ > Openmoko community mailing list > community@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
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