OpenPattern at FPGAworld 2008

We are pleased to announce that we will give a presentation of the OMRP at the FPGAworld 2008 conference in Stockholm, on September 11th.

The talk will be part of the industrial programme (track A).

Please register if you wish to attend the conference.

Looking forward to seeing you there !

New OpenPattern WebSite released

Welcome to OpenPattern!

The OpenPattern website has been upgraded and now includes resources for the OpenPattern project such as the documentation of the hardware and the board support package source code .

The website will now get populated with the final description of the OMRP that will be available upon request to selected developers, and then with pre-order through the eShop of openpattern.com.

OMRP Prototype board V.2 datasheet

The OpenPattern project is happy to release the preliminary board datasheet of the OMRP version 2 prototype.
This document enables FPGA developers to work with the OpenPattern board, and build a system-on-chip on it.

Some OMRPv2's will soon be available to selected developers.

Download datasheet

New OMRP prototypes

We recently received PCBs for the second prototype of the OMRP, OpenPattern's modular routerboard. This one is very close to the end product in terms of functionality.

Here is what it looks like :


And after some soldering :


We are now in the process of extensive testing of this board, while making progress on the packaging and FPGA/software development sides.

By comparison, here is what our first prototype was like.

Technical specifications

• Xilinx XC3S1200E FPGA used as system-on-chip
• 32 MB SDRAM
• 1x Mini PCI connector
• 2x 10/100 Ethernet PHY
• 1x USB peripheral port
• 2x USB host ports. End product will have one USB host port plus a MiniExpressCard slot instead.
• 2x SDIO connector

Features

• Open hardware - schematics and HDL sources will be/are released.
• Flexible - implement whatever hardware acceleration or protocol you want in the FPGA.
• Modular - many standard extension ports are implemented.
• Unbrickable - everything (filesystem, kernel, ...) is stored on a SD card you can easily replace.
• Developer-friendly - even FPGA configuration is stored on the SD card, you don't need any special hardware to get into FPGA development.
• ucLinux-based.

AEMB CPU integration

The OpenPattern project has chosen the AEMB softcore CPU as default processor for the OMRP.

This CPU combines high performance with small resource usage, which is crucial when using a low-cost FPGA such as the Spartan3E.

It is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, and features a WISHBONE bus compatible with many open-source IP cores, available for instance at the OpenCores website.

We also have started a repository with the open-source HDL code for the FPGA.
See https://dev.openpattern.org/browser/trunk/fpga/aemb. The tree is based on soc-lm32 by the German hackerspace Das Labor.

OTS apr-26 Hands on Linux EeePC development

Comments and video

Here is a presentation from OTS about how to write an "Hello World" application with Asus's EeePC SDK. Hello EeePC : download video

Open Tech Summit 2008 Taiwan

What is OTS ?

The main idea behind this summit is to create a community feeling for our cause and then use the synergy created to spread the idea of open source (free software) development here in Taiwan. The summit will span 5 days (25th - 29th of April) and will be hosted at 4 different places.

Events

• April 26

• April 27

Thanks

The OpenTech Summit 2008 in Taiwan is now finished, thanks for all speakers and participants.

OTS apr-26 Welcome and introduction

Introduction at ASUS : download video

Presentation of the OpenPattern Board

The streaming of the conference will start Saturday, February 26, 09:00 AM. We will present the OMRP during this event at 01:00 PM. We will be using the open source Ogg/Theora codec to stream the video. Here is the stream URL: http://stream.openpattern.org:8000/ohi.ogg.m3u< We recommend using VLC, mplayer or Totem to view it, * Streaming with Totem (http://www.gnome.org/projects/totem/) * Streaming with MPlayer (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html) * Streaming with VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) Hope you watch ;)

Open Tech Summit 2008 (Taiwan) : OpenPattern on ASUS news

The Open Tech Summit 2008 will be starting this week-end with 2 ASUS days in Taipei (Taiwan) as announced on the ASUS news :

http://asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=10965.

This Open Tech Summit 2008 full program is available here :

http://wiki.openpattern.org/index.php/OpenTechSummitTaiwan2008

and OpenPattern will be presenting the OMRP (Openpattern Modular Routing Platform) based on this first Open Hardware FPGA-based router board.

The Open Tech Summit will be also an opportunity for several Open Source project to present their current developments (OpenMoko, OpenWRT, OpenPCD, Freifunk, KDE, ...) in front of a taiwanese audience (manufacturers, vendors, academic).

OpenPattern ProtoBoard finalization

We finished assembly and electrical testing of our very first OMRP prototype. Everything went quite smooth and there has been no smoke :) Here is a quick photo :

OpenPattern prototype X-Ray photo

Here is a photo of our very first prototype board we took using the X-ray verifying machine from our supplier. The OMRP uses a Spartan3E FPGA packaged in BGA, which is basically a grid of 320 pins underneath the component. Soldering it requires a special oven. And as visual inspection is impossible for the solders under the middle of the chip, a radiography of the solders must be taken.

PDF submitted to the Embedded track at Fosdem

You will find here the PDF of the paper that we submitted for review on the Embedded track at Fosdem. Read openpattern_cfp_embedded_fosdem.pdf

It is more technical than before since the target audience of the Fosdem are developpers willing to contribute on hardware and/or software

OpenHardware Meeting - Paris Dec.13th 2007 (collocated with the IEEE HN1 Conference)

Vision of Open Hardware
A vision of OpenHardware

Location

Hosted at :
GSN (Global Security Network) 109/111, rue des Côtes, 78600 Maisons-Laffitte, France (North-West Paris Suburbs - 30mn from the central Paris subway station Chatelet)
Please follow this link for the map of the location :
View map
Please follow this link for the subway information to reach the Station Maisons-Laffitte from Chatelet (Subway line "RER A") (Direction Cergy-Le-Haut or Poissy).
RATP

Agenda

The proposed agenda is available here : http://openpattern.org/drupal/?q=node/9

Accomodations
Based on the difference budget and price ranges, you can find nice hotels downtown Paris by looking at the link : http://www.hotelaparis.com/hotel-paris-par-prix.html The list is price increasing orders and shows whether the motel has Wi-Fi connection or not.

Registration and fees

Registration. In order to help the organization team to prepare the environment of the meeting, could you register to the meeting by sending a email to registration@openpattern.org .
Fees. The meeting attendance is free of charge and there is no registration fees requested by the organization team.
Looking forward to see you soon.

OpenPattern PDF 1st HomeNetworking Conference

You will find below the PDF of the presentation we gave today at the 1st IEEE Home Networking Conference in Paris. PDF of the presentation

The OpenPattern project will be presented at the 1st IEEE HomeNetworking Conference (Paris Dec.10-12th)

We are glad to announce that our paper was chosen to be presented at the conference. You can download our article here.
This conference will take place in Paris the 10th, 11th and 12th December 2007. To learn more about it, visit the HomeNetworking website
This meeting is a great opportunity for us to promote free electronics and free software at the same time with a concrete design.
We invite you to come as numerous as you can to this conference to meet and get some feedback.

Vision of OpenHardware

What is OpenHardware?

The term OpenHardware refers to hardware, which is fully documented, with both specifications and documentation freely available, including the drivers and firmware required to make the hardware operational for its principle task. The source code of the drivers and the firmware as well as all items of the MIB should be directly available to the software developers.

The product with the drivers and firmware are type approved globally and the purchasers are indemnified from any Intellectual Property claims.

It must be possible to write free and open source drivers for this hardware without any restrictions or limitations.
Furthermore, the hardware design shall be available so that anyone can access, modify and/or reproduce any of the hardware components.

A licence is needed to protect "OpenHardware" from misuse.

What are the benefits of OpenHardware?

Today's hardware development is split into separate hardware divisions across the industrial landscape resulting in individual development branches and only little innovation.

OpenHardware will bring about dialogs between all parties involved - the producers, the customers and the consumers. By directly communicating with customers / communities / free developers, producers can access innovative input from outside the company itself on advices to improve their products thereby working closer on the consumers needs and ultimately widen their market.

The customer could express needs for adaptation of old products or even lead the way to the creation of a totally new product altogether. These synergy effects drastically reduce the research & development costs, increase the number of potential customers and most importantly form the fundamental basis for a level of customer satisfaction demanded in the 21st century.

Why is this interesting for OEM producers?

Traditional OEM producers depend on external purchasers which commission a product to sell it by themselves via their established distribution channels. After finishing the production the result is handed over and the OEM has to find a new purchaser.

OpenHardware designs would fill the gap between the producer and the actual market, by providing the necessary designs which can be produced and shipped without an external purchaser. The combination of modern marketing through Open Source Communities and customer networks reached over the Internet are the key to selling these products around the globe.

The OpenHardware concept would allow for one product being adapted for several thousand completely different needs, as it could be shipped in parts and later be assembled at its final location, after being thoroughly customized to the situation at hand.

OEMs could use the feedback and the contributed efforts to further improve their products and claim a strong share of the market. Furthermore, the community formed around an OpenHardware product could serve as a pool for the recruitment of capable and willing developers/testers or distributors who already know the product, thereby saving a lot of time in the initial and crucial phase of employment. Also would the customer bonding to the company increase dramatically, as the product is no longer developed for the consumer but with and most importantly BY the consumer.

Source: Marek Lindner, October 2007