More Compute Module docs, and an interview with James
A few days ago, we pushed out some more documentation for the forthcoming Compute Module and Compute Module IO Board, which together make up the Compute Module Development Kit. This new documentation covers power supply and sequencing requirements, temperature limits, and the process for writing an operating system image onto a module; and provides a summary of the various interfaces available on the module edge connector. Between now and the launch of the Development Kit, we’ll be releasing the CAD files for the IO Board so you’ll have something on which to base your own Compute Module projects – keep your eyes out for more.
The Compute Module and Compute Module IO Board were designed using Cadence PCB Editor. In this video, James talks with Simon Wood from Parallel Systems about his experiences designing high-tech PCBs with these tools.
29 comments
madnerd
I would love to see a custom Raspberry Pi which focus on network connectivity to use it as a proxy/firewall.
AndrewS
The BCM2835 has no native Ethernet support, so you’d just need to hook up multiple USB->Ethernet adaptors – which you can do with the current Raspberry Pi Model B anyway ;-)
J Ashfield
Yeah ,but aren’t the usb ports limited in terms of speed
Eben Upton
Yes, but the USB gives you 480Mbps of theoretical throughput, so unless you want Gigabit Ethernet or a lot of Fast Ethernet connections you’ll be fine.
George
The Raspberry Pi model B NIC is on the USB bus anyway.
J Ashfield
Yeah so would I. It seems a perfect application for the RPi for a home network of like 6 computers/devices.
Stephen Hill
Would you consider moving to more open or low cost PCB CAD tools?
BlueSky
I would have thought that the Raspberry Pi Foundation would do well to get behind KiCAD. KiCAD is the most effective open source CAD package for PCB design.
Francis
i agree with you. i hope the pi foundation will support more the open way example: kicad like that more students and people with small budget’s will get better access to powerful tools.
Liz Upton
KiCAD is our standard package for any simple PCB design (Dave’s just wrapped up his first design with it); for more complicated designs the Cadence tools save a huge amount of engineering time.
nelson
CERN is now contributing to kicad, they added push and shove to the router, but it still is missing differential pair support. Would be great if the rpi fundation helped them in theyr goals, the comunity would benefit greatly from a free professional grade software
James Hughes
Don’t forget that Broadcom use Cadence as well (as stated in video), which makes interoperability with them much easier.
Chris
Which version of the Cadence software did you use / will we need, OrCAD Standard, Pro or Allegro?
Tom West
A lot of oganisations do TV interviews in front of a wall of their logo (or their sponsers’ logos, in the case of sports teams).
I really like that you did it in front of the posters – much more interesting, and a good reminder about the foudnation’s core mission :-)
vasi
I’ve read somewhere that there are some GPIO interfaces that are not documented yet (something like a parallel bus).
Is this true? If so, will there be a complete documentation available?
Eben Upton
We’re working on it. It’s possible this documentation will trail the availability of the kit by a month or so, but the intention is that all external interfaces, including the camera and display, will be fully documented.
DuncanE
Are we any closer on dates for release of the development kit yet? I know the foundation said it would be June, but your comment about CAD files being available about a month before release suggests timescales could be stretched.
Thanks.
James Hughes
Worth noting that a lot of the footage taken from the high altitude balloon flights was done using the Raspberry Pi camera board, not a webcam.
stick
Including the GPIO pins on the PI was a master stoke, but the compute module takes this to another level. Does it expose all the interfaces of the BCM2835?
dean
Who made the clear arcade case for the pi,
Right at the end of tbe table on the rear right?
Awesome job on the PCB, its hard enough getting 2 layer boards routed without crosstalk,
Oliver
Mainly I’m missing the documentation about the secondary memory interface. That would be perfect for a project at my university but there is nothing about that interface in the official BCM2835 documentation, just that it exist and we should refer to a missing section. How can we get more information about that? Broadcom does not answer.
Eben Upton
Please be patient – we’re working on it. As you say, the SMI is a very handy interface and we’re committed to getting docs for it out in the wild.
Colin Wallace
Any news on documentation for the Secondary Memory Interface?
Ioannis
Dears,
Thank you for making such exciting products !!
I have just one question, is the PCB of SODIMM I/O edge connector fixed? It is very important for us, because we are already working on product based on the RPiCM and we will have a big problem if the SODIMM I/O edge connector will re-defined. Please confirm.
Thank in advance
Ioannis
PS. Just FYI we prefer as a PCB tool, the Mentor Graphics PADs, but it can import Cadence Files.
PhilippeL
Found an answer to my question on http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=74447
bluecar1
any update on the date these will be available yet ?
getting impatient and the wife said i am allowed a new toy :)
MichaelM
There is already project based on this module called ‘Modberry 500’
http://linuxgizmos.com/automation-controller-taps-raspberry-pi-compute-module/
Bill Moritz
Compute Module IO where are the I2C and uart connections?
GPIO 0 and GPIO 1?
GPIO 14 and GPIO 15?
I cannot find any DOCs to confirm these…
Mohit
Is their any update by when the PCB CAD files will be released for compute module..??