HW/PCB Designer, DIY Maker, Hardware hacker, Carrier boards (Raspberry Pi CM4/CM5), Custom HW/PCB designs, PCIe, FPGA, DSP, SoC, up to 12-layer PCBs
Kraków, Polska
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- Followers 10,278
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Modulo4 XL - design concept.
Let's vote: 2nd USB2 vs. 2nd ETH
Let's consider together whether it's worth sacrificing a 2nd USB port and having a 2nd ETH port (100M only) for network needs (e.g., basic router apps).
65%
2nd USB 2.0 port
35%
2nd ETH (EJ45) port
20 votes • 4 days
505
How old am I?
It was 1997 year, I was a poor boy, during my technical high school study I decided to build my first microprocessor system from scratch. Without a computer, the internet, or any PCB tool, only on paper, by hand.
I used Intel i8085 CPU, 5V, 8-bit CPU, and external memories: 8kB EPROM and 2kB SRAM (replaced later by Toshiba chip).
I programmed that CPU only by using the pure machine code, without using the compilers, and debuggers.
Those were the hard days a few years before Arduino, ARM Cortex microcontrollers, Google, Raspberry Pi, and knowledge from the internet.
I learned all from the paper books, from the library, from magazines for the hobbyist.
Any thoughts ?
Feel free to share
@dsp8bit @aggarwal_pallav @toybuilder @elmundoverdees @Mirko_DIY @gsreynaga @arturo182 @LuisLlamas @evilgeniuslab
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Over 5600 objects on the PCB, and it looks like the journey has ended.
It was definitely a long engineering week.
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I'm offering B2B services:
- custom designs for industry (hardware designing/PCB layout),
- carrier boards for Raspberry Pi Compute Module CM4/CM5, RP2030/RP2350.
- assembled prototypes (PCBA) and small manufacturing batches.
Technologies: M.2, PCIe, mPCIe, SATA, USB2/USB3, HDMI, DisplayPort, GbE, SFP/SFP+, SerDes, MIPI (DSI/CSI), SoC, FPGA, DSP, Edge AI (Google Coral, Hailo), MACSec, SyncE, PTP, RGMII.
Projects: routers, ethernet switches, video equipment, mini PC, carrier boards, motherboards, clusters, media players, microservers, NAS.
contact: pcb@mirkotronics.pl
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The question is:
"...but can it run Crysis?"
Raspberry Pi 5 + Upcity Lite + Radeon RX 6800 XT
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nice trick how to detect short circuit using thin rosin layer.
source: LinkedIn / PCB Hero.
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Making a PCB layout for a few high-speed interfaces with proper inter-pair spacing and inserting a pair of GND vias (vis stitching) for good EMI performance is not a trivial task.
I always treat drawing traces as an engineering art and put a lot of effort into it. I hope that in my lifetime my work will not be replaced by neural networks and AI machines.
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Finally, it has PCIe! 🔥
It's nice to see that the new Raspberry Pi finally has a PCIe interface (however attached to the FFC connector as an expansion port, not as a standard M.2 port).
Who might be interested in a dedicated M.2 adapter board for RPi 5?
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I can't say that I'm proud of the fact that my designs are copied by the Chinese, but, interestingly, we were noticed by one of the largest Chinese electronics manufacturers.
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eMMC adapter for Raspberry Pi (highly reliable MicroSD card replacement) - one of our side projects.
Created especially for users which complains about storing Pi OS into uSD card.
Will it work? Let's find out...
Manual soldering of the BGA chip might be tricky (0.5mm pitch).
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Even if you have 4 layer PCB, but if you use standard technology like drilled via (TH), sometimes you face problem like SMD components on both sides. Layout in this case can be a bit tricky and you have to improvise.
As always - for me the work of PCB designer in every project there are challenges and difficulties to overcome (even if you are not designing 16 layer PCB and HDI).
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In pursuit of perfection. It seems like a pedantic penchant for symmetry, but placing components (bypass capacitors) in this way speeds up the design and PCB layout.
The biggest challenge for QFN devices: component placement for single-side mounted PCBA.
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wow 😍
It looks like Raspberry Pi 5, but isn't.
The early stage of Pi5 with exposed PCIe x4 interface.
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Oh nice!
It's great that we have the ability to change polarity on high-speed differential pairs. A solution ingenious in its simplicity, worthy of a Nobel Prize.
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PCB Tips & Tricks for Beginners.
You may encounter phrases during PCB manufacturing that you sometimes don't understand.
Here I have gathered a collection of the most frequently offered services, technologies, and objects that appear on PCB circuits.
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Do you know that quote: "640kB should be enough for anyone"?
What about designing PCB boards?
Isn't it true that a 2-layer PCB design should be enough for anybody?
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What is more interesting, they designed a special Southbridge chip (RP1), as the GbE, USB3, and GPIO controller.
There is also a dedicated hard-coded MEMORY jumper for selecting embedded RAM (1-2-4-8G).
Still 8GB RAM only?
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A quick preview of the M.2 HAT (TOP) setup from our development:
* @PineberryPi TM1S board with installed NVMe SSD drive (M-key, 2242 size)
* @Raspberry_Pi 5 4GB RAM
* @PineberryPi FPC PCIe cable, 40mm
* set of 14mm metal standoffs
* M2.5 screws
* 2X20P male-female pin header
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If you have too many spare microsd cards, you can build a SATA ssd drive using this adapter (build-in RAID0).
Looks a bit funny 🤩
2nd picture -> adapter for assembly eMMC BGA153 memory chips.
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We are thrilled to announce that today we launched a new brand in the Embedded industry: meet Pineberry Pi!
Introducing HatDrive by Pineberry Pi, the first @Raspberry_Pi Pi5 board with NVMe GEN3 support!
Two variants now available for pre-order. Be among the first 5000! Shipping starts early December 2023.
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Raspberry Pi 5 eMMC adapter (microSD card replacement) - now it's time for bring-up and testing
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Ultra-compact mini PC
PCB dimensions 62x62mm
GbE RJ45 + HDMI Type A, USB-C (power+data), 2x USB 2.0 Type A (host), 3.5mm jack (32bit, 384kHz DAC), microSD, power button (MCU controlled), M.2 slot (2230/2242), RTC + battery backup (CR1025).
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PCB: tips & tricks
If you have any tracks or vias underneath metal parts of the connectors, you can place in this area extra silkscreen rectangle to protect and mask copper objects located under the connector (just in case).
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Sneak peek of my next PCB project during development (test setup).
Implemented: PCIe Gen2 x4 edge connector, GbE, HDMI 2.0, 2x USB 2.0, 12VDC (up to 8A).
Project will published as OSHW (next year).
PCB dimensions: 100 x 161.80mm (golden ratio).
4-layer PCB.
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We are thrilled to announce our new product - HatDrive! Piano - M.2 socket (2230/2242 size, M-key) combined with high-quality DAC audio card (32-bit/384kHz) with embedded headphone amplifier (I2C controlled).
As you probably know the new Raspberry Pi 5 does not have a dedicated analog jack, so we decided to introduce a HAT board dedicated to audio applications, such as media players and music servers (e.g. @KodiTV, @volumio, Plex).
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I'm not sure if you noticed that on the top side of the PCB, right next to the LPDDR4X memory, there is a series of resistors that create a simple voltage divider.
@Raspberry_Pi 5
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I know it's a complete waste of time to manually route differential pair connections and do length matching, but it's a lot of fun and relaxes me when I'm working on another PCB design.
I appreciate the work done by a human and I think that at some point engineering work can be treated as something more, like a piece of art.
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too much connectors will kill you :)
during designing hw concept of some industrial router
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Last Saturday (11th November), in Poland we celebrated Independence Day.
I'm proud that I live here, in Kraków, and create hardware projects at Mirkotronics.
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Another interesting, potential HAT board would be 2xGbE (or 1x 2.5G) + M.2 for building routers or any other network-attached devices.
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It's nice to see the real Raspberry Pi factory during manufacturing process, especially: Pick&Place machines, solder paste printing, selective soldering, automated THT placement (robot line), AOI inspection, testing, fixtures, etc.
How credit-card size computers are made (Factory Tour) #RaspberryPi piped.video/watch?v=k2C4lbbI…
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Oh well, looks like I'll have to finish this DIY project before some Asian company outdoes me.
Thank you @tomshardware for mentioning my design concept. I appreciate that!
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Solder party begun!
It can be a challenge to properly align the BGA chip, so let's try to get it right the first time.
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I know that sounds a bit crazy, but now it could be also possible to build a compact, 4-port PCIe HAT.
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Hardware designing often involves using previously created functional blocks (ReUse) and skillfully combining them into a logically connected whole.
In many future projects, I use part of the diagram circuits from my open HW designs, e.g. MirkoPC, Pi4GPU, Carduino Pi, or FinixPC
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Which Gerber viewer (CAM tool) do you use for visual inspection before you send the manufacturing files to your PCB fabricator?
Personally, the most I use ViewMate and DFM Now! (free version of FAB3000) for reviewing Gerber layers, NC drills, and ODB++ data sets.
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BitPiRat - dedicated hardware for full node bitcoin and lightning network based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4).
Donate to me if you would like to support this project and help me to work on hardware development.
coinos.io/bitpirat
#BitPiRat #RasberryPi #CM4
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Shared vias - nice trick for placing via stitching during changing layers in routing differential pairs.
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We are approaching the end of the year.
What will the new year 2025 bring?
I am very positive and I am looking forward to it.
I deeply believe that it will bring many new experiences, and positive events and will be an important stage in our development.
But it is only up to us what will happen.
We are the creators of our future and only we decide about it.
Just act!
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What is your favorite "pad entry" technique?
Personally, I prefer only "90 deg. style" fanout from the center of the pad.
Only in certain exceptional situations do I route the pad at a 45 deg. angle.
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The end of the year is a very intense period for us, new PCB designs, shipping a huge number of orders, brand building, store service, community support, etc.
Many challenges, a lot of work, but also a lot of satisfaction with the effect achieved.
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the new era has begun!
let's have some fun 🎃🔥
We registered a new hardware company with @Mirko_DIY today.
We are both broke(very very broke), excited and can’t wait to share our products with the community.
You’ll hear much more in a month or so, we are dealing with the production hell now.
What a crazy year for me 🔥
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It looks like we missed a nice anniversary.
3 years ago (19.01.2023) Compute Module 4 was introduced on the market, and it seems it changed quite a lot in the SBC/SOM market.
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Making a PCB layout for a small BGA on a board with single-sided components is always a bit tricky (especially routing power rails).
Here is a good example (0.65mm pitch BGA).
Anyway, I enjoy such challenges a lot.
I will forewarn some questions - yes, the layout of some tracks might be optimized (like REFCLK).
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someone simply ported the design from Pi 5 and didn't realize that on Pi 500 there is a discrete signal transformer between RJ and PHY, therefore ESD diodes are in the wrong place.
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The last 2 weeks have been very intense for me.
As you can see, it was worth spending this time on another project.
I promise that it will be a very interesting item for every fan of compute modules.
This project was created to give our community the best PCBs on the market, giving maximum satisfaction from using them.
Only the highest quality components, with attention to detail, a project that can be the beauty of engineering art.
Stay tuned!
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Sometimes when you have no choice (because changing the technology to HDI or adding 2 more layers is too expensive) you have to use the "spider web".
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We are not slowing down, the next few days mean intensive design and implementation of new ideas for me.
Here you can take a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the new HW structure.
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Our new office and warehouse are under construction.
As you can see, we work hard to create comfortable conditions for the R&D environment and logistics.
Today we spent 14 hours working all day on assembling furniture and shelves, so we apologize that we are offline and do not respond to emails on a regular basis.
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A few nice OSHW projects designed using EasyEDA for embedded Linux:
oshwhub.com/an_ye/quan-zhih3…
oshwhub.com/DINGCHENG/eHpPo9…
oshwhub.com/ku-dian-ke-ji-gu…
oshwhub.com/an_ye/cube-466_l…
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A dedicated card for the @Raspberry_Pi CM4-IO board
PCI Express x1 to M.2 2280 M-Key (PCIe NVMe) Adapter
#CM4 #PCB #RaspberryPi #PCIE
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Solder thieves (or traps) for wave soldering.
I must admit that I haven't seen them for a long time on the PCBs.
Here is a good example of such spots.
They even added extra silkscreen bridges between THT pads to improve soldering process.
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"DESIGNED IN POLAND" logo during development.
First attempt.
Because I'm proud I'm from Poland 🇵🇱
Do you like it?
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Every revolution needs sacrifice
If you don't have an office, you have to rent an apartment
If you don't have a logistics, production, or warehouse, you can do everything yourself
Even if you don't have $ in your account, you might invest your savings or borrow from family
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Less known facts about Raspberry Pi SBCs:
1. Raspberry uses OSP plating for finishing the PCBs
2. For inserting THT parts in the PCB: in the past, they use manual placing (for a long time by workers) and automated assembly line based on the co-robots (e.g. for Model 4B)
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It's time for soldering...
We are not slowing down, we are working hard on new products.
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OK, I updated the Raspberry Pi bootloader (now it is 5th Feb 2024 version).
I removed the micro SD card and... the Polish flag appeared on my screen 🇵🇱
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Guess which dot is the pin 1 marking...
Sometimes IC chip marking can cause confusing during mass production
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"...but can you play Doom on it?"
Yes, it CAN!
Meet tiny RP2040 PC with microsd card, QSPI 8MB RAM, hi-end 32bit/384kHz audio DAC, VGA video out, USB-A/USB-C, RTC, RGB backlight and much more... Design based on #Femto module.
During DIY dev.
#FinixPC @Raspberry_Pi @TheMagPi
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