04/11/2019
The next level of Ultra High-End saber core arrived: Please welcome with me the DIYino Infinity v1.1 !
Although we kept quiet over the last couple of months, we did so with a good reason: we had been working focused on both the hardware and the software side to offer a full ecosystem not only for sabers and props but also for the larger IoT community out there using Nordic's excellent BLE core.
This board could not have been developed without the dedication of Jakesoft, who is the father of the Arduino open-source sabers and my friend and colleagues Stefan who strongly supported both the hardware development and the deep-embedded coding necessary for the base APIs to work.
Now the Infinity has all the basic drivers and classes to support digital sound processing algorithms, including but not limited to True/Smooth/Real-Swings. Support to drive neopixels with 0-CPU loading using SPI-based easyDMA transfers is working. Persist storage of config variables on-chip is demonstrated and we are working now on porting existing Arduino saber firmwares to the new platform.
It has been a long way and a long way is still ahead of us, but one where the fun can finally begin. The foundation is laid, and I can tell you, it was a very different story from the legacy DIYino boards. I totally enjoyed stepping into Arduino development, as it opened up new vistas of creativity and the global Arduino community made it real simple to start developing a complex system from simple components. Strong library support and an establishes hardware ecosystem, with millions of users were a great help.
For the current hardware, we had to start literally from scratch with very little re-use and generally low experience in the community. In a way it felt good that could give back something in exchange for all the readily-available shared knowledge and freeware which benefited us earlier. Now it was our turn to benefit the community. All the low level drivers for sound processing, neopixel control, persistent storage, deep sleep (just to name a few) we had to develop using only the Data Sheet of the processor module. We had our lows and highs on the way, and I'm grateful for the perseverance of the team. Along the way we also revisited the hardware, making adjustments in order to make it even more useful as a generic IoT board.
What came out is a tiny little board with the by far largest density of features on the market. Compared to v1.0 the Infinity got two more break-out signals, which can be used for I2C communication, the USB charging has been improved for a true 0.5A CCCV and measures were added to make sound playback more crisp and crystal clear. Layout is improved for manufacturability, pawing the way for what the DIYino boards are known and valued in the community: 0-defect and high quality.
We also decided that a board of this complexity necessitates a new approach to PCB manufacturing and assembly. We now work together with multiple large European PCB vendors capable of fabricating multi-layer, fine-pitch PCBs and currently qualifying companies offering assembly services for first- and second source.
In the Infinity v1.1 we managed to unite the best features of the DIYino Prime (the first open source saber board) with those of the dedicated Stardust series: while smaller than any of its predecessors, it kept all the features of its predecessors, while adding BLE support, a more powerful CPU core and more breakout signals, which in turn can be configured for each of the functionalities the chipset offers. This makes it ideal for those looking for an easy-to-use board as well as for hard-core tinkerers looking for total freedom to implement new features and explore new possibilities.
