othermod

I make open source things, normally using Arduino or Raspberry Pi boards

[othermod @othermod]

New Images for the PSPi 6
https://t.co/IsHew0JV6f

Minor changes on Lakka, added Batocera and Recalbox.

[othermod @othermod]

New Lakka images are posted on GitHub for the PSPi 6.

Images are for:
Pi0
Pi02W
CM4
CM5

CM5 is still not exactly recommended, but the image is there for anyone wanting to watch it melt down.

https://t.co/6QYw2it3so

[othermod @othermod]

After months of investigation, I’ve finally figured out why some PSPi 6 boards power on by themselves, usually when plugging in a charger after playing for a couple hours and then shutting down.
https://t.co/ZwabSEK2w5

[othermod @othermod]

The othermod store is back back online.
https://t.co/9PHCbJCjul

I have a healthy stock of everything, so hopefully it stays in stock. Backorders are available though, if needed.

I also updated the site, so dark mode should look a lot better when viewing the account page and during checkout. No blinding light hitting you randomly.

The PSPi had a lot of people subscribed to notification. I cannot predict how many orders will come in, but its possible that it will take a few days to get them all shipped.
https://t.co/Yc7eaX6Hve

I also added the new Topper to the store. I'm keeping it as out of stock a bit longer while I finish writing some documentation. I have a huge quantity on hand, and will have no trouble getting them to everyone interested once the docs are ready. You can subscribe to be notified when its ready.
https://t.co/AGp3GrFL53

[othermod @othermod]

Heads up.
I'm taking my store offline November 1st so I can get a break from ordering/inspecting/testing/shipping. Everything is currently in stock, so grab the PSPi by the end of the day if you plan to buy it in the near future.
Hopefully this will give me more time to work on the things (mostly documentation) that I haven't been able to do since I released the board. Never expected this much demand after a couple years.
Goals during the break will be:
Relax more with the family during Thanksgiving and Christmas
Work on a proper build guide (with images) for the PSPi 6
Improve overall documentation and add the most common questions/answers to it
Finally find and detail a fix for the bug that causes some high-current chargers to switch the board on
Finish the drivers and documentation for the DPI Topper boards so I can begin selling them
Spend more time chatting in the project Discord

[othermod @othermod]

@__tinygrad__ I think this misses the point that China is very effective without flooding in outside labor. There are hundreds of millions of people here. Many are very bright. Many choosing not to engage or are unable to engage. We should figure out what our country is doing wrong and fix it.

[othermod @othermod]

The boards are back in stock. I adjusted prices to cover the new tariffs. My gut feeling is that these tariffs will remain for a while.

I am no longer doing free shipping on the PSPi boards. Shipping is a set $9.95 regardless of where you are.

https://t.co/O405lBuIIY

[othermod @othermod]

Sooo...do I put my boards back in stock at an increased price, or do I wait to see how the tariff stuff plays out?

[othermod @othermod]

@Ultimaker You're making a huge mistake if you lock a higher-flow print core behind a new printer.

[othermod @othermod]

@8Kite8 I've got a spot on the troubleshooting page for this
https://t.co/sBtSDT0bRz

[othermod @othermod]

GitHub Link
https://t.co/nG7xk5CxZh

[othermod @othermod]

The new Raspberry Pi DPI Topper board is working well. The (hopefully) production version is here and passing all tests.

This new board has:
24-bit video using the same 40pin display connector pinout as the old topper boards
Adjustable brightness (8 levels) using the onboard button, an external button, or I2C
I2C routed to the display connector, enabling capacitive touch
I2C also routed to a JST connector, enabling other I2C devices to be used
4 analog inputs (configured as 2 joysticks in the driver)
16 digital inputs (configured as 16 buttons in the driver)
Removable resistors that allow for the use of 3 GPIOs (display depth reduced to 21-bit)
Onboard buffering and filtering for mono audio (only works in 21-bit display mode, and does not yet work on Pi 5)

I'll probably also make a slim version without all the bells and whistles once this one is done.

I'm beginning to add code to GitHub. PCB files and instructions are coming soon. I'll sell these on my site once I'm confident in them.

[othermod @othermod]

So it seems it will take a bit of time for the CM5 color issue to get worked out on the Raspberry Pi GitHub. They said they plan to fix it early in the year, and then it will take a long while for those changes to work their way downstream to other operating systems.

Sooo, im trying to figure out where to put my focus. Should I let all that work itself out and focus on other things? Should I design a Carrier v2 that eliminates the need for the color order change? Should I make a Carrier V2 that also puts the CM4/CM5 at the back of the shell? Should I focus on the universal carrier now that the CM5 is released? Some of this assumes that the CM5 power usage and heat generation can be reined in.

[othermod @othermod]

I made progress on the new Raspberry Pi DPI Topper board (for Pi 0, 3, 4, and 5). Looking for some feedback.

The goal here is to make a single board that can be used for lots of projects. It has most of the PSPi features, except for battery charging and power handling.

This new board has:
A 40 pin display connector
Capacitive touch screen compatibility
4 analog inputs (for joysticks or other analog input)
16 digital inputs (for buttons of whatever you prefer)
Adjustable brightness
Up to 3 GPIOs
Option of mono audio output

I was planning 24bit version with full color and a separate 21bit version that includes audio and 2 gpios. I think I've worked out a way to make one board that the user can configure how they want by removing resistors.

[othermod @othermod]

The temporary fix was to change the color shift here to (9, 29, 19)
https://t.co/W7CuDv2Wzd

I've asked Raspberry Pi to implement a proper color change in the overlay. If you are able, give my bug report a thumbs up so they know to put time into fixing it.
https://t.co/npcPPgpu1Z

Or if anyone is able to assist in developing the fix, the necessary context is all there.

[othermod @othermod]

I'm making progress with the CM5 on my board. I don't think a new carrier board is required.

The color order was corrected by changing some code in the video driver and recompiling linux. This is just a hack until Raspberry Pi implements a proper fix in their code.

I've improved thermals a bit by enabling lower minimum clocks and lowering the max frequency. This still uses more power than a CM4 at idle (when I enable the same limits on the CM4). Hopefully this can be improved. There are also random bursts of high power usage during boot that overwhelm the battery. I'm not sure whether a small 2ah lipo is ideal for powering the CM5. I think the power circuit on the PSPi mainboard can handle it, but more testing is needed.

Here's the config.txt additions im using to (minimally) reduce power
arm_freq_min=400
arm_freq=1500

[othermod @othermod]

@GreatScottLab YouTube decided not to notify me that you posted it

[othermod @othermod]

Head over and upvote the screen color GitHub issue if you're able.
https://t.co/yJHkyYIVDa

[othermod @othermod]

I have the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 running on the PSPi 6, using the carrier thats made for the CM4.

So far, it seems to be working. There are some coding things that keep the battery indicator from working and that cause the LCD colors to be swapped, but other than that it seems good.

It runs hot. Not sure what to do about this yet. I think a fan is required, and I'm not sure what will happen if I run a stress test.

More to come...