06-09-2017, 05:17 AM
(06-09-2017, 02:18 AM)Flavor Wrote: Thanks, Yvo!
For anyone else that hasn't seen it, the Kickstarter is at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/122...eplaytech/
Freeplay Zero
The Freeplay Zero will be very similar to the v2.1. Of course, the main difference is that we won't be soldering them by hand anymore. To accomodate the outsourcing, we need to tweak some components. Most of those tweaks are something I think a user would notice or care about. I'll list tweaks that a user may notice.
The 40pin header we used on the GPA v2.1 is hard to source. We are moving to a special connector that will accommodate common square-pin male pins. The female version (that will be on the Freeplay Zero circuit board) is the important part here, because the Pi needs to rest at a certain height away from the Freeplay Zero PCB.
We are using different LEDs and resistors that will result in a different brightness.
We moved the shoulder button switches a bit and need to source different buttons. We hope that this means people won't need to mod the shoulders at all.
The largest changes come in the battery area.
We no longer have terminals for 14500 cells. I know that people used these in the past, but there are issues that make sticking to the "flat pack" style cells easier and better.
Where the negative spring terminals went before, we will now place JST connectors. This means that you can plug/unplug your battery pack(s) without opening up the shell.
There is some new reverse-polarity protection in the battery circuitry, just in case someone connects their battery backward.
There is some new low-voltage detection in the battery circuitry. This is actually wired to the Pi, so the Pi can detect the low-voltage. The user will see the red light (as was on the GPA v2.1) and after the battery gets even lower there will be a signal sent to the Pi. In our test setup, we have modified the power-button shutdown script to also shut down if this signal is detected.
Freeplay CM3
When we first tested the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3, I thought the same thing. I figured that it would be a lot more of a drain on the battery and result in low run time.
That's not the case.
I need to point out here that we are still engineering the Freeplay CM3, and the design is still changing. However, in our early testing the difference in battery life between Freeplay Zero and Freeplay CM3 is very small. Running a game (with graphics and sound) on attract/intro mode lasted nearly the same on the two.
Kinda makes me happy I won't have to update my v2.1 board already hahaha. But they do sound like nice changes.
I'm very interested in the CM3 ones, can't afford one now(+ they are still prototypes :p), but I'll definitely keep an eye on them to see how they pan out. Heat is another thing I'm curious about because my Pi3 even on base clock gets quite hot in closed spaces.
Anyways congratulations with the success on the kick-starter, nearly your goal in 24 hours, fuck me that is well done. And good luck with the project!