Pi Supply Gert VGA 666 shipping.

[BillStephenson]

I just got an email telling me they're getting ready to send out my kit. I'm pretty excited to get it. I've never soldered anything that small before so it will be fun to take a crack at it. I've got my +2.75 specs ready

[BMS Doug]

I just got an email telling me they're getting ready to send out my kit. I'm pretty excited to get it. I've never soldered anything that small before so it will be fun to take a crack at it. I've got my +2.75 specs ready

I got the same, including this:

If this is the correct address, you're all set.
If this is NOT the correct address, you can fix it right here. Just be sure to make any changes in the next 48 hours!

so into the post on Friday morning perhaps?

[rpdom]

so into the post on Friday morning perhaps?

I doubt it'll be quite that soon. I had that email and a follow-up update email:
"we should have them by early next week"
"We anticipate that the vast majority of backers will receive their orders before Christmas"
So, a week or two until we get our grubby little mitts on them.

[BMS Doug]

so into the post on Friday morning perhaps?

I doubt it'll be quite that soon. I had that email and a follow-up update email:
"we should have them by early next week"
"We anticipate that the vast majority of backers will receive their orders before Christmas"
So, a week or two until we get our grubby little mitts on them.

Ah well, they come when they come.

So the VGA board uses all but 6 GPIO (and the HAT EEPROM pins)

the only free GPIO are GPIO 22-27 (BCM not physical pins) and the two HAT pins (physical pins 27 and 28 on B+)

I've used paint to modify this drawing (bad quality to keep image size down, sorry), the orange marks the Pins that are not available (in use by the VGA board) the white pins are available for use.
[attachment=0]Bplus pinout.gif[/attachment]

we know from Joan's investigations that the HAT EEPROM bus can be configured to allow other I2C devices (although external pullups will be needed) so we have 6 GPIO and an I2C bus available, not too bad.

I see some bad news, doesn't look like scratch GPIO 5 is going to work with this, I have sent Simon a PM and ask him to think about this for the next version.

I changed which pins are available for using as inputs between ScratchGPIO4 and ScratchGPIO5

So pin 3 is not available as an input but you can use any of the other pins that appears as sensor values i.e. 7,8,10,19.21,22,23,24 and 26

Simon

(pin references are hardware numbers not BCM).

[simplesi]

I think a slight confusion has crept in - the pins mentioned in other thread (7,8,10,19.21,22,23,24 and 26) are just the default A/B input pins - 11,12,13,15,16,18 are set as default outputs

ScratchGPIO6 supports the A+/B+ extra pins so we should be OK - I'll be testing as soon as my VGA boards arrives

Simon

[BMS Doug]

I think a slight confusion has crept in - the pins mentioned in other thread (7,8,10,19.21,22,23,24 and 26) are just the default A/B input pins - 11,12,13,15,16,18 are set as default outputs

ScratchGPIO6 supports the A+/B+ extra pins so we should be OK - I'll be testing as soon as my VGA boards arrives

Simon

Thanks Simon, I was wondering if some of them may have been set as outputs but I wasn't sure. That does give 4 output pins to 2 input pins but I guess any combination of just 6 GPIOs will end up feeling limited.

Does "default" mean that they can be changed in an option menu somewhere?
I haven't used scratch much, just tried it once to figure out someone's problem (the problem was that he was using scratchGPIO4 and had a tutorial using scratchGPIO5, the opposite problem to the other thread, when he updated to the latest version everything was fine).

I really should spend some time setting up a pi for scratch, my older daughter will enjoy it. (one of my A+'s and a USB hub with keyboard and mouse should do the trick).

[BMS Doug]

My VGA board arrived this morning, I'll solder it together tonight.

My first impressions are that the components are of good quality.

[BillStephenson]

Cool!! I'm excited to hear more.

Mine probably won't be here for a few weeks yet. It's sure traveling a long way for $3 though, so I'm not complaining.

[BMS Doug]

All soldered up, I couldn't be bothered with trying to read the resistor values (a combo of bad lighting, bad eyesight, not very clear resistor colour codes and not having the code tables to hand) so I read them with my cheap home multimeter.

I'm not sure when I'll get around to testing the board, I'm not at work until the new year and I'm not sure if I have a VGA lead at home. (I think my TV has a VGA input, I'm not sure if my PC monitor has one (and I don't fancy going up into the loft to check).

[BMS Doug]

Cool!! I'm excited to hear more.

Mine probably won't be here for a few weeks yet. It's sure traveling a long way for $3 though, so I'm not complaining.

I had to search for Gert's manual to find out where the components should go (the pi-supply website had no details nor even a link to the pdf), page 6 has the assembly instructions.

If you are going to print the pdf then make sure you do it in colour as black and white won't help you with assembly.

I connected each set of resistors in turn, doubled checked placement and clipped off the legs before moving to the next resistor value.

The 40 pin GPIO was a bit tricky to solder, as always the close spacing and the long pins are nasty combo. I always end up leaving solder on the long pins from the tinning on the iron.

The VGA connector clips in place nicely and is easy to solder.

I hope it works.

[BMS Doug]

pics or it didn't happen

[DirkS]

pics or it didn't happen

You mention building a new kernel, but Gert's doc says you can do rpi-update and put the device tree file in the right place.
Mind you, I have soldered my board but have not yet tested it...

Gr.
Dirk

[DougieLawson]

You mention building a new kernel, but Gert's doc says you can do rpi-update and put the device tree file in the right place.
Mind you, I have soldered my board but have not yet tested it...

To start working with the FTS/DTS/DTB you'll need to move forwards to the 3.18.1 kernel.
sudo BRANCH=next rpi-update
gets you started with that kernel.

I'm still playing with building a 3.18.0 kernel that includes the ENC28J60 stuff and Notro's fbtft. Because it's only for my use, I've stripped lots of stuff out (my kernel has none of those USB drivers for things like DVB-T TV sticks). Latest test kernel didn't boot, but ...

[DirkS]

To start working with the FTS/DTS/DTB you'll need to move forwards to the 3.18.1 kernel.
sudo BRANCH=next rpi-update
gets you started with that kernel.

You're right, but the VGA666 actually works with older 'firmware' + kernel
I had it working on 3.12.8 (admittedly with fairly recent bootcode.bin, etc).
I did an rpi-update and now I'm at 3.12.35

Linux raspitab 3.12.35+ #730 PREEMPT Fri Dec 19 18:31:24 GMT 2014 armv6l GNU/Linux

Had a few problems at first, but that was because I forgot to blacklist spi and i2c

Forgot to mention that I'm using it on a B+

Gr.
Dirk.

[mahjongg]

would be nice if someone wrote a simple to read HOWTO for it.

[DougieLawson]

would be nice if someone wrote a simple to read HOWTO for it.

I nominate the other Doug to do that.

[DirkS]

Documentation for Gert's vga666 board can be found at https://github.com/fenlogic/vga666

For assembly instructions see last page of the document in https://github.com/fenlogic/vga666/tree ... /documents. PDF and Word document can be found there.
Make sure that you use the image below the text ''through-hole side'.

When you have finished soldering the board you can plug it in and power up your Pi.

1. if necessary install rpi-update:

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install rpi-update

2. update to current firmware / kernel:

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sudo rpi-update

No need to reboot yet.

3. Download configuration file for the board:

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wget https://github.com/fenlogic/vga666/blob/master/setup/dt-blob-dpi.bin
sudo mv dt-blob-dpi.bin /boot/dt-blob.bin

4. Add settings for the board to /boot/config.txt

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sudo nano /boot/config.txt

and add the following lines

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enable_dpi_lcd=1
display_default_lcd=1

This will enable the board and make it the default display

5. It is necessary to blacklist spi and i2c, otherwise the vga666 will not function correctly.

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sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/vga666-blacklist.conf

and add these lines

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blacklist spi-bcm2708
blacklist i2c-bcm2708

6 Now reboot; if everything is ok then it should come up with VGA resolution (640x480)

7 Now adjust the resolution for your monitor (see http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... fig-txt.md)
For the vga board use 'dpi_' instead of 'hdmi_'
For example, adding these lines to /boot/config.txt

Code: Select all

dpi_group=2
dpi_mode=35

Would be the equivalent of hdmi_group 2 (DMT), mode 35 (1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz)
And it works nicely with my old Acer AL1711 monitor

HTH
Dirk.

[mahjongg]

neither two links can be construed as a "how to use the Gert VGA 666 HowTo", but your following instructions are.

Mind If I put them in a sticky as such?

[DirkS]

neither two links can be construed as a "how to use the Gert VGA 666 HowTo", but your following instructions are.

I know, they're just meant as more general reference.

Mind If I put them in a sticky as such?

Sure, no problem.

[BMS Doug]

would be nice if someone wrote a simple to read HOWTO for it.

I nominate the other Doug to do that.

Oddly i saw (Dirk's) how to in the beginners thread before I saw this, he did a much better job of writing the how to than I would have.

I found that I do have at least two TVs with VGA sockets, and one of them already has a VGA lead attached (finding the other end amongst the tangle of wires is the next job).

[Joe Schmoe]

For my benefit and that of others, could someone say explicitly here how to order this kit (from within the USA) and how much it costs (including all taxes, licenses, surcharges, interest fees, etc) ?

Thanks.

[rpdom]

For my benefit and that of others, could someone say explicitly here how to order this kit (from within the USA) and how much it costs (including all taxes, licenses, surcharges, interest fees, etc) ?

No idea about shipping and all that. The main product page is here with £6 inc tax in the UK.
I'm still waiting for mine, but I'm in no rush as my B+ is busy doing stuff with it's GPIO for now. I might try saving up for another, or an A+ perhaps. It'll be fun to play with two screens

Edited to fix url

[BMS Doug]

<snip for space saving>

For my benefit and that of others, could someone say explicitly here how to order this kit (from within the USA) and how much it costs (including all taxes, licenses, surcharges, interest fees, etc) ?

Thanks.

When i went to the link it said that shipping to arizona (I picked a state at random) would be 4.99 for a total of 9.99 (pounds sterling) (the item price dropped from 6 pounds to 5 pounds as you don't have to pay VAT) I don't know if you will need to pay an import tax at your end.

I know that micronaughts(based in canada) was thinking of having a batch made up, I don't know if he went ahead with it though.

[rpdom]

I removed the " " to make the url work.

Thanks, fixed now.

I meant to preview it to check if it worked with the quotes in, but forgot and just hit Submit

[mahjongg]

already used the link in the howto sticky.