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Ray,
Thanks for all the info. I just looked at the Raspberry Pi website and they say here http://www.raspberrypi.org/introducing-raspberry-pi-model-b-plus/ that, “We think you’re going to love Model B+, but to ensure continuity of supply for our industrial customers we’ll be keeping Model B in production for as long as there’s demand for it.“
It looks as if you do not need to redesign your board in the immediate future (unless you want, of course). Just specify that you only support the model B and not the B+. For OSPi there is no requirement for the B+ whatsoever.
SInce you are looking for feedback on the product, here a couple of thoughts.
1). One thing that I have done on my 1.4 enclosure is to drill a number of 1/8″ holes along the long sides with the intent of increasing airflow. My OSPi is mounted vertically on an outside, East facing wall in the waterproof case you suggest. Doing this has lowered the CPU temperature by about 5 degrees. It is difficult to measure this accurately since the weather here in Charlotte NC is currently highly variable.
2). Please consider a built-in update option in the software. A button in the Settings page that, when pressed, would go off and download and seamlessly update the OSPi (just your software, not Debian) without having to dive deep into Linux.
My OSPi is now becoming boring since all it does is to sit there and just work. This is a very good thing since all I want it to do is to water my yard.
Thank you for an absolutely brilliant product.
@ray wrote:
Hi Brad,
I just got my hands on a B+ model and indeed I will have to redesign OSPi to fit B+. I assume the current B model will be discontinued. Since B+ is considerably different from B, it’s unlikely I can design an OSPi that fits both versions. So for a while we will have to offer both versions, until the current B model phases out.
As you’ve probably noticed, OSPi doesn’t have its own dedicated enclosure — instead it shares the OpenSprinkler injection-molded enclosure. So the enclosure is not fully tailored to RPi. When I met Eben Upton at the Maker Faire last year, he told me specifically not to finalize the enclosure design, as they were in the process of redesigning RPi. I guess B+ is what he was referring to 🙂
As to the compute module, I haven’t had time to try out it yet. With it, it’s totally possible to fit everything inside the OS injection-molded enclosure, so OSPi will look just like the Arduino-based OS, expect it runs RPi inside. The compute module is not widely available yet, and it’s unclear to me what would be the final pricing.
Speaking of that, there are alternative choices: I’ve also just got my hands on the SparkCore and the Electric Imp. I like them quite a lot: they are low-cost ($30 to $40), have built-in WiFi, very small in size, and have excellent web and cloud support. I am very tempted to design an OS-Spark, or OS-Imp, or I think it’s even possible to have one circuit that can fit either of them. The only downside is that they have relatively fewer pins, so an IO expander may be necessary.
-Ray
Is there an OSPi that supports B+ boards yet? Want to buy a Pi..
The current OSPi 1.4 does not support B+ (the user manual has been updated to reflect this). A new version 1.4+ should be ready in a week or two, and it is tailored to B+.
Because it’s difficult to design one circuit that can fit both B and B+, we will offer both versions: OSPi 1.4 is for model A or B, and 1.4+ is for B+.
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