OpenJVS Hat Update - 11th January 2021
Hope everyones doing well,
@RedOne and I are almost ready to send the boards off to the manufacturers however we've got one small issue that we'd like to gauge everyone's thoughts on first.
We are proposing that the OpenJVS Hat will ONLY support a Raspberry Pi 4 from factory.
Due to hardware restrictions of the older Raspberry Pis, an issue arises where if JVS communication is sent while the Pi is starting up it forces the Pi into it's bootloader mode where it will get stuck and won't successfully start up. Because of this, we will manufacturer the boards to only support a Raspberry Pi 4 from factory, which has multiple serial connections allowing us to use one that isn't involved in the Pi's bootup process.
Currently the ability to swap compatibility to support a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 will require desoldering and soldering a small part (0 Ohm SMD resistor) of the board and a configuration change in the OpenJVS software. This means basic soldering equipment and skill will be required, if you'd like to make the board work with an older version of the Raspberry Pi. It is worth noting that in this compatability mode, any on board bluetooth capabilities of the Raspberry Pi will not function.
An alternative is to add easy to use jumpers on the board to facilitate this compability swap, however this would put the board cost up and add to components that may eventually fail with corrosion of the jumper surface. This would also add an extra potential problem with troubleshooting.
What is everyones thoughs on this? Do you accept that it will only work with a Raspberry Pi 4 from factory and that solering is required to swap to compability mode, or would you prefer the board cost to be higher and include jumpers?
Once we've got this sorted out I will send a Google form to everyone with the final price and those who are still interested can fill in their shipping details.
Looking forward to hearing everyones thoughts on this,
Bobby & RedOne